Battlefield
by PurpleNinjaCat278
Summary: Maya's burning desire for Jack's blood takes a sudden turn when she discovers about her forgotten parents, and how they're in grave danger back on Athenas. She is determined to find them, and of course with the help of her two handsome companions. PLOT CHANGE! Love triangle! Maya/Axton & Maya/Pierce (OC) Maya's P.O.V.
1. Chapter 1

**Welcome everyone, to my first Borderlands 2 fanfiction! I recently got the game, and I have constantly been playing the crap out of it. It's so awesome! Just to let all of you know, this story will contain major spoilers later on, and it basically follows the main quest line, except I've added a couple twists to it. Haha :D**

**Also, the whole story is in Maya's P.O.V.**

**Enjoy! :)**

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My hand shot up over my eyes, shielding them from the bright, scorching sun. Pandora's environment was just as savage and uninteresting as I had read up and learned about. Nothing but rolling hills of sandy domes was all I could see, and what was even worst was the damn hot sun.

The sun and weather back on Athenas was tamed and actually quite pleasant. Most of the time, the weather was mild, not too cold, and not too hot. I'm starting to kind of miss my home planet. The smiling, friendly people living there annoyed me at certain times, mostly because of their too 'nice' attitude, but I suppose that was better than a hostile, disgusting brute, like here on Pandora.

I came to this wretched, messed up planet on a mission. I wanted to learn about my Siren lineage, and how they came to be. I suddenly felt a clawing feeling in the pit of my stomach, not because I was nervous about being on Pandora for the first time, but also because I left all those people back on Athenas, including the Order of the Impending Storm.

Even though I had a burning sensation of hatred for the monks of the Order, I felt sympathetic for the loss of my mentor, Brother Sophis, due to- well, me. He may have been a total jackass at times, but him and the rest of the monks did train me, feed me, and did everything they could to make me better than what I was before.

Once I found out that they were just using me to protect their planet and strike fear into everyone's heart, my temper broke. Upon almost making me kill an unarmed man, I killed Brother Sophis and left that planet for good. Maybe when I finish up my research here on Pandora, I'll return there. But, let's just see how I feel afterwards.

My feet crunched under the rocky gravel and sandy dust of the road. I casted my gaze across the desert-like wasteland and all I could see were miles and miles of… sand, and the occasional spot of a lone tree or cactus, but there honestly wasn't much out here.

What the hell do I do now? I didn't come to this planet to see the sand and desert, or die of extreme heat… or maybe something of a violence matter. Like a psycho trying to gouge my eyes out with a spoon. Oh, how lovely would that be, eh?

I looked over the horizon and spotted something square shaped and pretty damn big. I couldn't make out what it was from where I was standing, but it was dark and shadowed up. I squinted and took longer strides to get over closer.

Upon arriving, I realized that it was a billboard. I walked in front of it and observed the details that it had to offer. There was a picture of a decent looking man with an odd face, like someone else's face was stapled onto his, with outstretched arms. Underneath him was a message in huge, black outlined bright colored letters that read, "Vault Hunters Wanted"

I raised an eyebrow, confusion beginning to paint itself across my face. What's a vault hunter? I shrugged off the question, continuing to read the smaller black letters under the large message. "Do you want money, fame, power, and women? (Or men if _you _are a straight woman). If you answered yes to all or any of these choices, then you should be a vault hunter! You, yes you, may be the lucky bastard to get to the vault first, and get all of that awesome loot! So come on down and catch a ride on the Hyperion train, where we'll take you straight to your dream come true! Sponsored by the Hyperion cooperation."

Money, fame, power, and uh, men! I felt a smile tug on my lips, and I placed both hands on my hips. I was going to learn more about my Siren heritage, but this doesn't seem too bad at all!

I heard the sudden screech of brakes from some form of transportation, and I looked over my shoulder. A long, floating train with a silver exterior and numerous glowing, neon blue lights all over it, was now parked a bit away from me. I noticed it was the Hyperion train that was mentioned in the billboard directly in front of me. How convenient. As if on command, two towering, yellow and black striped robots exited out of the door on the side and slowly paced toward me.

"Greetings, Vault Hunter." One said, in a slightly creepy, mechanical voice. It sent a chill down my spine, and I kept a safe distance from them. Where the hell did robots come from?

"You may enter this way." The other robot pointed with a long, metal arm toward the opened door on the side of the train. I took one step forward, and instantly, both robots whipped around and bolted, jumping over the train and disappearing to… inside the train? Who knows where they went.

I stood in the same spot for a moment, trying to figure what to do. Should I go on the train, and fulfill my dream of becoming rich and famous, or just turn around and go my own way? Before I could pick what to do, my feet immediately began to move forward and step onto the shiny, metal steps of the train.

I was taken aback as cool air hit my face, filling my red, warm cheeks with an icy sensation. Thank God the train had air conditioning. I was burning up outside. Just as my whole body was inside the train, the doors shut quickly and tightly behind me, and the train moved forward at a fast speed, nearly making me fall to the ground.

I luckily caught one of the curved bars protruding out of the train's wall, and rebalanced myself. Looking around the train cart, I saw that it was fairly empty, except for three other people. The one sitting in the first row of seats, alone, was a huge muscled, gruff man. He sat hunched over, arms crossed over his chest, and scowled toward the floor, a thin snarl settling on his mouth. As I stepped forward, his eyes darted up, directly at me. His expression didn't change, but he shot a small glare at me. The look wasn't hostile, but he didn't seem like someone to mess with.

Just looking at him, immediately made me think he was a local of Pandora. His dark, slightly navy blue, unkempt hair stood up in a spiked mohawk, while the thick beard on his chin curved downwards. A dirty Band-Aid covered the bridge of his nose and a scar slashed down the corner of his forehead.

I noticed he was much smaller in height, despite the fact that his biceps were nearly the size of my head! A neat arrange of tattoos dotted both of his biceps, which looked like bullets. He wore a ripped up, grimy orange shirt with blue jeans and brown leather sparred boots. From the look of his dark features, he looked possibly of a Hispanic background.

I walked passed him, and took a seat across from another man that looked at lease normal. He turned his head and gazed at me, a grin beginning to curve onto his lips. He was actually quite handsome, with buzzed cut hair the shade of milk chocolate that accumulated with spikes on the very center and top of his head. His eyes were a bright emerald green, almost the same as mine… weird. An odd triangular mark was shown above his right eyebrow, which either could be a tattoo or some kind of mark symbolizing something.

He winked flirtatiously at me and I couldn't help but feel heat flood into my cheeks. I looked toward the ground, thinly smiling to myself. Most men that I met were either normal looking, meaning not ugly, but not good-looking, or just plain out hideous. But this man was… the most attractive out of them all.

The man stood up and walked over to the empty seat next me, plopping down into it.

"Hey there," he greeted coolly. He looked at me with steady eyes, but a smirk still planted itself on the curve of his mouth.

"Oh, uh, hi," I said shyly, yet very awkwardly. I felt like slapping myself in the face, but that would make me look stupid in front of him.

"What's your name?" he asked, leaning backwards and placing his hands behind his head, while still keeping an eye on me.

"Maya," I said, rather softly.

"Nice to meet you, Maya," He held out a large, muscled hand and I grabbed it, curling my fingers through his, then letting go, as he grinned widely. I blushed once again, folding my hands in my lap, and staring at them. He let out a deep, throaty chuckle. "By the way, I'm Axton."

I smiled kindly at him. His eyes darted toward my left arm, and he reached out, tracing the lace of blue tattoos along my skin. A light shiver passed through my body at the feeling of his soft touch.

"Amazing," Axton murmured. "You're a Siren, aren't you?"

I looked at him surprisingly. Most people I've met thought my tattoos were just for show, and others most definitely realized that I'm a Siren. I nodded. "Yeah, I am. How'd you know?"

He shrugged. "I dunno. I read up a little about you Sirens, and you're magical abilities,"

A soft giggle escaped my lips. My gazed shot forward, right at the antisocial, brutish man still sitting in the front row. His head hung low, as if he's asleep.

"Hey, who's that?" I whispered to Axton. "I was kind of afraid to ask him myself."

Axton's laugh came out soft and low. "Oh, that's Salvador. Don't worry about him. He may seem all tough looking and unapproachable, which he is at times, but he really does have a soft, nice side. It took a lot of convincing and sweet talking to make him lighten up and say his name."

A dark figure came into the corner of my eye, and I twisted my neck to have a look. A person, from what seems to be a man as well, slowly and calmly walked down the center of the train cart. He was dressed head to toe in black and milky sliver armor, which shined under the dim train lights. He wore a dark helmet that covered up his face, and I couldn't see what he was possibly thinking.

A long, glowing sky blue katana was strap across his back, making him look more like a ninja. The only thing that stood out of his appearance was the small red number zero on the right side of his chest plate.

Axton laid a hand on the mysterious man's arm, stopping him in place. "Whoa there, Zer0! Don't wanna meet our new vault hunter, huh?"

The armored man turned around, his shiny helmet staring down at me. I could even see my reflection. "My apologies, I am clueless all the time, It's nice to meet you," Just as he finished up speaking, a smiley face appeared on the face plate of his helmet.

Everything about this guy was so weird, yet so awesome. I don't know how to put it. The way his voice sounds like one of those robotic recorders was kind of creepy, but how he strangely spoke in what seemed to be- haikus, was very intriguing. Even the emoticons appearing on the face of his helmet was pretty cute.

"Yeah, this is Zer0. Pretty cool guy," Axton then leaned over to whisper in my ear. "But I don't know why he speaks in those fancy haikus, or has emoticons on his face."

I couldn't help but stifle a giggle. Axton smirked at me, and also began to chuckle. I stood up and slid pass Axton's sitting form, getting into the center of the train, alongside Zer0. He was way taller than what I would have expected, and the complete opposite of Salvador!

He looked down at me as I looked up at him. I extended my hand, while smiling genuinely. "Hi, Zer0. I'm Maya,"

Another smiley face appeared on his face, and he grabbed my hand, gently squeezing it. I looked down and caught sight of his hand, which seemed to only have four fingers-instead of five. My eyes widened in disbelief. How could Zer0 only have four fingers? Is he not human? I shook off the thought, and gave him a thin grin.

Just like Axton, Zer0 focused his attention on my tattooed arm and an emoticon with a gaping mouth settled on his face plate. "So you're a Siren?" he asked, this time not in a haiku, but it still had five syllables.

"Yes. Wow, I'm actually surprised you guys found out that I'm a Siren so quickly," I glanced at Axton, who was smirking at me, then back to Zer0.

"Well, you Sirens are awesome lil' ladies after all," Axton said, and I could still hear the flirtatious tone of his voice.

I chuckled. "Thanks," Something above my head begged for attention, and I looked up. Another billboard hung just above our heads, and I made out the words. "Welcome Vault Hunters!" It featured a picture of the same man with an unusual face, giving a friendly smile.

Suddenly, the billboard fell to the ground with a loud thud, and underneath was another board that had the same man with an evil glare on his face, and this time it said, "To your DOOM! (Nothing personal)"

The same two robots that greeted me outside, appeared at the end of the train cart, armed to the teeth with vicious looking machine guns. The lights on their faces were a gleaming red, and they shouted things like, "Kill the Vault Hunters."

"Oh, crap," Axton jumped out of his seat and ran to the other side of the train. Salvador and Zer0 both jumped out of the side doors, but weren't intended on fleeing, instead climbing on the roof. Dread crawled along my back, and the blood screamed in my ears.

The robots began to open fire, and I quickly ducked under the seat that was only a couple feet from them. I saw Axton slide on the ground, nearly missing a shower of bullets that would've torn through him, and deployed a gun turret on the ceiling of the train. It spewed a rapid amount of lead right at the robots, not immediately killing them, but distracting them.

He grabbed a rocket launcher that lied a couple inches away from him, and aimed at the firing robots. What I didn't know, was that I was in the same range as the robots, so basically the rocket was barreling at me as well.

"Watch out, Maya!" I heard Axton's shout, and smoothly backed away, before the rocket collided with the mechanical fiends. It created an explosive that was so bright, I had to shield my eyes with both hands. As the light dimmed down, I raised my left arm at the closest robot to me.

A relaxing, slightly warm sensation raced through my arm, then down the left side of my body, as the tattoos glowed bright blue. The robot was caught in a large, swirling purple ball, rendering it completely helpless and vulnerable. I flicked my arm to the left, and the robot flew out of the window, crashing into the snowy ground below.

Salvador jumped back into the train cart, and dual wielded two rapid firing machine guns. He began to shoot a storm of bullets straight at the remaining robot, instantly tearing it apart and demolishing it. I heard something hop and roll on the roof, and the slash of a sword, meaning Zer0 was doing his little ninja stunts.

As the four of us reformed together again, we stopped outside of the cart next to our train cart. Axton motioned to the door with his head, and kicked the door open with his booted foot.

Inside seemed to look like the man that tricked us, but when I took a closer look, it was just a dummy of him. A few sticks of dynamite lay in its lap, and as I looked around, the whole train cart was a live ticking time bomb. A recorder began to play as the dummy swung around in the moving seat, "It's cute that ya'll think you're the heroes of this little adventure, but you're not. Welcome to Pandora, kiddos."

My body was suddenly pushed backwards by the strong force of the explosion. My ears rang loudly and for a moment, I couldn't hear anything but the beat of my own heart. A excruciating pain surged through my legs and arms, and I felt numb all over.

The last thing I felt was a pair of muscular, strong arms wrap around my abdomen and pull me in a protective embrace, before darkness overwhelmed me.

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**How'd you think? Please review! I need your feedback! ;)**


	2. Chapter 2

**Wow! I love all my readers! Thanks for the many kind reviews. :) You guys are awesome!**

**Here's chapter 2. Now grab a handful of bacon, sit back and relax, and enjoy! Lol. :P**

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My mind flowed in and out of consciousness, and once my eyes finally opened, everything was blurry. My head still pounded intensely and the ringing in my ears died down slightly, but I still couldn't really hear anything around me. Fear crawled along my skin. Did I go deaf? Was the explosive so extreme, that it could possibly take away one of my most important senses?

A cold gust of wind slapped me in the face, and the ground beneath me was incredibly icy and freezing. I managed to lift my head and survey my surroundings. All around me was miles and miles of snow, and the storm blowing hard was soon to become a blizzard.

My vision became clear and I spotted a shadow fidgeting around in the snow, forcing me to sit up on my knees. My body screamed with pain, nearly making me collapse, but I caught myself with my elbows. A deep grunt sounded beside me, and I heard a familiar voice. "Hey, you okay?"

Relief washed over me as I still had the ability to hear, and also that Axton was okay, of course. "Yeah, I'm fine." I said, holding back a cry of pain. "Just really bruised up."

I looked to my side and saw Axton crouching low, too. He rubbed his arms, either because they were sore, or he was just cold. "Yeah, me too. But at least we're alive, right?"

I nodded, thanking the heavens above for sparing my life. I struggled to stand up, but gasped loudly as a searing, hot pain shot through my lower right leg. "Ah!" I fell back down, clutching my right ankle. "God dammit." I muttered, as I realized that I must've twisted my ankle pretty badly.

"Maya!" Axton crawled on all fours over to me, his eyes searching all over my body for injuries. "What happened?"

"I think I twisted my ankle or something," I gritted my teeth and cried softly, as my ankle began to throb. With each beat of my heart, the pain seemed to jolt right up body, causing tears to form in my eyes. A single tear spilled over my eye and dripped down my cheek. Axton leaned over and wiped it away, comfortably, with his finger, smiling at me.

"Hey, don't cry. You'll be fine." A strewn of robotic beeps and musical humming forced me to look into the impending snow storm, immediately spotting a moving, dark figure. My heart leaped into my throat as I thought it was one of those Hyperion robots, the same that attacked me on the train.

"Look," I pointed at the shadow, and Axton followed my finger, catching sight of it as well. "What's that?"

He didn't respond, and instead dug a hand into his boot. He pulled out a long, studded tooth bowie knife, and slowly crept toward the shadow. After a moment, a high-pitched robotic voice, and as well as Axton, both screamed out in unison. I quickly sat upward, ignoring the pain climbing up my leg. I squinted into the swirling snow gusts, and saw a large, shadowed mass run toward, and Axton appeared.

"What the hell was that?" I asked him, my voice shaking slightly.

He shook his head, a grin forming on his lips. "Don't worry. It's just one of those Clap-Trap robots. They're completely harmless- well, most of the time."

As a short period of time passed, another shadow, much smaller than Axton's was, poked through the storm and approach Axton and I. A small, yellow robot appeared, rolling on a single wheel, yipping with joy.

"Woohoo! Vault Hunters! And you all are alive, how cool is that?" I raised an eyebrow at the strange, sort of annoying sounding little robot.

"This intimidating yet pretty handsome man here," It pointed at Axton, and he blushed, titling his head toward the snow-covered ground. "-almost tried to kill me! But we settled things and- oh," The robot trailed off as it looked at me. "What happened to her!?"

I waved off the question. "It's nothing, really. Just twisted my ankle."

"Oh, okay." The robot said in a happy, high-pitched voice and turned away, digging through the snow with a shovel.

"Maya, you need to seek to medical attention. I doubt you'll be able to walk with that ankle." Axton said, casting a sideways, worried look at me.

"I'll be fine," I slowly began to stand up, but fell back down with a sudden cry of pain.

"See," Axton said with a hint of cockiness in his voice.

The funny robot came back holding two mechanical devices. "Here are your ECHO devices! They will help you keep track of all the craziness happening in this screwed up world!" Axton walked over and snatched the two devices out of the robot's metal claw, slipping his own into the strapped pack on his back, and handing me mine. I looked at it strangely, but buckled it on the side of my belt on my waist.

I heard the crunch of footsteps over snow, and glanced behind me, watching as a dark figure steadily walked toward me. As it got closer, I recognized it as Zer0, the mysterious, ninja-like man that accompanied Axton and I on the train, as well as Salvador.

"Zer0?" I called out, and he perked up, his sleek, black face plate remaining blank. He walked over to my sitting form, and looked down at me. "Hi," I said, managing a small smile up at him.

He kept silent, and then calmly said a simple, "Hey,"

I saw Salvador wasn't anywhere seen, or alongside Zer0. I frowned, as disappointment swelled up in my chest. "Uh, where's Salvador?"

A sad face appeared on his face plate, and he bowed his head. "He did not make it."

My eyes widened in shock. "Oh," was all I could choke out. I wasn't terribly upset, mostly because I have only known Salvador for a short time, but sadness seemed to build up inside me.

"I found his body, In the snow, dead and bloody, He will be missed." I nodded my agreement, but my eyes burned into the ground. Silence had a death grip on, chocking me from saying anything else.

"Zer0!" Axton jogged over to us, waving and smiling at the ninja man. "Glad you're alive and safe," he looked around the space between Zer0 and I. "Where'd Salvador go?"

"Dead." I said, before Zer0 could say anything.

Axton's gaze fell to the ground, melancholy streaking across his face. But after a matter of seconds, he lifted his head, and the look on his face now shifted into a small scowl.

"His death _will _be avenged. But for now, we leave the dead behind and move on forward." As he said this, he gripped the dog tag loosely hanging around his neck, and looked at it, his eyebrows creasing in a sad expression. I arched an eyebrow, my eyes focused on the dog tag. What could possibly be on that?

Axton let go of the dog tag, letting it fall loosely down his chest. "Now, we must find that bastard who tried to murder us on the train, and kill him!" Anger and determination flared up in his eyes, and he clutched the handle of his knife so tightly, I could see the white spreading throughout his fist.

"I agree with you, Axton," I began. "But, exactly how are we gonna do that?"

He gave me a look that went from puzzlement, to nervousness. He ran a hand through his spiked locks, fidgeting with the zipper on his jacket. "I haven't thought of that, but let's just say… teamwork!"

I rolled my eyes at him, while silently giggling to myself. However, Zer0 stood up from his crouch next to me and walked up to Axton. "I have some grave news." He stated.

"Yeah? What is it?" Axton asked, staring intensely at the masked man.

"I can't accompany you, I must go solo." Zer0 clearly said, his face staying emoticon-free.

"What? But why?" I suddenly called out. "If you joined us, we could become a team and take down that jackass!"

Zer0 nodded slowly. This time when he spoke, he did not use a haiku. "Yes, that is very true. But my inner self is telling me to just…go on my own. I promise, we _will _meet up again. I'm sorry."

Axton came up to Zer0, placing a hand on his shoulder. "I understand, dude. Hopefully we will see each other soon. Now…take care of yourself." Zer0 nodded, beginning to turn around, but locked his blank, sleek gaze on me. A winking smiley face emoticon manifested on his helmet, and he waved a goodbye.

I managed a weak smile, watching as he spun around, and trekked through the whirling snow storm. I saw his walking form turn into a dark shadow, and then disappear.

I straightened up in a sitting position, wincing as pain still lingered throughout my ankle and upper leg. Axton still stared after Zer0, his face completely expressionless. He slowly turned his gaze back to me, offering a thin smile of gratitude.

We both heard the funny, little robot clear its voice and it wheeled toward us. "Okay! Are you guys finished?"

Axton nodded. "Yeah, now what do we do now?"

"Oh! Well, before proceeding, I will like to introduce myself. I am CL4P-TP! Or you can just call me, Clap-Trap! Now, if you two don't wanna freeze to death, or get mauled by Bullymongs, I recommend following me!" Clap-Trap began rolling away, but Axton called out for his attention.

"Wait! But what about Maya? She has a pretty bad twisted ankle."

"Oh, no worries! I think I have some healing back at my place." Clap-Trap clapped his metal claws together happily, and began moving, beckoning for Axton and I to follow him.

"Here," Axton bent down and slipped his arms under my body. I felt like pushing him away, but I restrained myself, and instead my words came out to fight.

"Whoa, what are you doing?" I asked sternly, hostility beginning to creep into my voice.

Axton kept his arms under me, but gave me a look full of sympathy but with a bit of hurt, as if my words slapped him in the face. "You can't possibly stand up and walk. You're still injured. I'm just helping you,"

"Oh, okay. Go on than." I felt myself being hoisted up in his strong arms, and instantly, his grip on me was… relaxing. I swung both arms around his neck, so I wouldn't slip off, and held him close. Even with the cold, bone-chilling snow and wind blowing around, the heat from his body seemed to radiant off in waves, filling me with both warmth, and joy.

He started steadily walking off; following after Clap-Trap's annoying voice and beeps. I laid my head against his chest, and closed my eyes. This was probably one of the only times I've been…_this _close to any man. I mean, yes, I've hugged plenty of them, but Axton was different than any other.

It was weird. I just met him, and I'm already feeling a sensation of joy and happiness whenever I'm near him. Was this love that I'm feeling? I certainly hope not, since love can render you helpless and weak.

Axton cradled my body in his arms without any difficulties, and even allowed me to lay my head on his chest. As we neared Clap-Trap's sanctuary, I was hoping this moment would never end.

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**How was it? ****Review! :D**


	3. Chapter 3

**Sorry about the delay, I recently went on a pretty long vacation. Also, don't worry if I don't update in a while. It's probably because high school is really eating up my spare time. **

**I know some of you are either upset, depressed, or both, about Salvador's death, and I'm sorry about that! I personal have nothing against him. It's my story, so I can do however with it.**

**DEAL WITH IT. ;) Haha, just kidding.**

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I hugged Axton close as he carried me toward Clap-Trap's place. Through the swirling, white clouds of snow, I could make out a huge pile of junk metal and other useless means of crap. Next to the heaping pile, was a hidden metal door with a series of locks decorating it.

The small, yellow robot known as Clap-Trap, waved his metal claw around, trying to catch Axton's attention and reel him closer. However, Axton ignored the robot's frantic waves and calls. He was more focused on carefully transporting me into a safe refuge.

"Ow," I growled through gritted teeth, as Axton's slightly rough movements triggered the pain in my ankle.

"Oops, sorry 'bout that," I felt the muscles in his arms tightened as he embraced me closer to his body. I sighed softly, enjoying my spot in his comforting arms.

"Yoohoo! Vault Hunters, over here!" Clap-Trap's voice broke the silence sifting around me, echoing through my head like a gong bell.

Axton groaned, and I looked up at his face. His sharp, green eyes were locked straight forward and a thin curve began to form on his lips, indicating a hostile snarl. "Damn robot. His voice is so annoying!" I giggled, and he noticed. As he titled his head downward to look at me, the snarl morphed into a friendly smile.

When we neared Clap-Trap, he began to punched numbers and dials into the keypad on the side of the locked door. "Gotta keep this place locked up and hidden. To put those goddamn bullymongs at bay and all,"

Axton looked to his side at the large pile of junk, and his nose started to wrinkle in disgust. "Uh, what's all that crap there?" he asked, motioning with his head at the pile, and also being careful not to jerk me around.

"Oh, don't worry about all that! That's just where Handsome Jack deposits all the dead bodies of creatures and bandits that he killed," Clap-Trap said, while still quickly typing away on the keypad. I stiffened up in Axton's arms at the mention of, 'Handsome Jack'. I was still fuzzy on who that was, though, but a rock of hatred seemed to burn in my stomach at the sound of his name.

"Who's that?" I asked, but I had a pretty good answer on who he was.

"You mean, Handsome Jack? He's the CEO of the Hyperion cooperation. Pretty nasty guy, I mean like atrocious, not disgusting or ugly. He's also the guy that tried to kill you on the train!" Clap-Trap explained, the blue light of his single eye glowing up.

"I knew it," Axton muttered under his breath.

"Anyways, you guys can plan revenge later. For now, let's get inside my place!" The metal door slid open and Clap-Trap rolled on in. Axton followed after him, his grip on me was still firm, yet gentle at the same time.

"You know, you don't weigh much at all," Axton said, thinly grinning down at me.

I laughed. "Thanks, I was put on a pretty strict diet back on my home planet."

"Wow, you were? Damn, I hate diets," Axton rolled his eyes at the thought.

As we traveled through a snow-covered tunnel, the temperature didn't change one bit. It wasn't colder, neither warmer at all. "I'm gonna freeze to death on this motherfucking planet." Axton muttered, his breath creating puffs in the cold air. I shivered and attempted to press myself against his body for heat, but he was just as frozen as me.

"Yeah, tell me about it," I murmured, but Axton didn't manage to hear me.

We entered a chamber connecting to the tunnel, which could've looked like a normal living quarter, if it wasn't for the snow layering the ground and the multiple bloody dead bodies scattered in random spots. I surveyed the area, and there were many luxuries, including a couch, which held a dead bandit in it. Trash, empty gun cartridges, and bullets littered most of the ground. Axton kicked some around, cursing once he nearly tripped on an empty shotgun lying around.

"God, was there a war here or something?" he asked.

Clap-Trap rolled back into our view and instantly answered his question. "Oh, it's nothing! Just some stupid bandits tried to rob me again," He wheeled around and headed toward a table, which had cards and poker chips stacked all over the surface. Another dead bandit sat in one of the chairs, his head was drooped low, along with his face planted on the table.

"Ugh," Clap-Trap scoffed, and struggled to pull the bandit's body out of the chair, but his little, weak robotic arms weren't cutting to the chase. "Uh, mind if I get some help?" He looked directly at Axton, who gave him a small glare.

"You do know I have my arms full?" he said, glancing from me, to Clap-Trap.

"Yes, bu-." The small robot suddenly cut off, as Axton glared at him again, this time more threatening. "Fine. I'll just do it myself." Clap-Trap grabbed the lifeless body and with all his might, managed to pull it out of the chair. Along with a swift swipe of his arm, all of the cards and chips on the table flew off, creating a pool of clattered poker pieces.

"Lay the girl here, and I'll go get the healing!"

Axton walked over to the table and gently laid me down on my back, still supporting my ankle with his arm. "How does your ankle feel?" he asked.

"A bit better, but it still hurts," I responded.

Clap-Trap moved over beside Axton, holding up a small white kit with a red cross painted on the top. "Here you go! I'm no doctor, so hopefully you have better luck than me." Axton nodded his thanks and unlatched the buckles on the side of the medical kit. He fumbled around with whatever items were inside, and finally pulled out a large needle shot filled with red liquid.

He stood beside my lying form, his hand clutching the shot. "This might sting a bit," He injected the red liquid into my twisted ankle and suddenly more pain flooded in. I squeezed my eyes tightly and whined, my body beginning to squirm around from the uncomfortable feeling. Axton placed his hand on my exposed left arm, gently rubbing it.

Moments later, the pain took a turn to a relaxing sensation. I sighed, as I felt my ankle returning to normal and once again filling with warm, tingling feeling. "There you go," Axton slid the needle out and placed it back into the kit. He offered a hand and I grabbed it, pulling myself up and swinging my legs over the table.

"Feeling better?" he asked, a twinkle lighting up in his eye.

"Yeah, a lot. Thanks," I smiled genuinely at him, and he returned the smile with a cocky grin.

"You guys done?" Clap-Trap asked, placing down a picture that he was examining. We both nodded, and I hopped down from the table, relief washing over me as my ankle didn't feel any pain at all. "Great! Now we-." Clap-Trap was suddenly cut off as a loud, bestial growl sounded from about us.

At the same time, both Axton and I looked up at the sight of a hulking, beastly creature descending from the opening in the ceiling. It swung the on the large metal pole protruding from the boiler on the ground, and grabbed Clap-Trap. The robot was screaming in utter panic and terror as the creature held him hostage in its hand, err… maybe paw?

"MY EYYYEEE!" Clap-Trap shrieked as the beast ripped the glowing blue light, which must be his eye, from his face. The creature dropped Clap-Trap, leaving him sprawled on the snowy ground, and climbed back up the pole to its escape.

"What the hell..." Axton stared toward the ceiling, at the creature's getaway. "-was that?" He looked at me, while taking a glance at Clap-Trap's frantically fidgeting body.

"I think that was a Bullymong, one of those things that inhabit this planet." I answered.

"I take it they're not very friendly," Axton said. He walked over to Clap-Trap, who surprisingly was back on his wheel, but aimlessly kept on running into things.

"Guns… in the container…" he seemed to mutter the sentence under his breath, but I immediately heard him the first time.

"Follow me," I ran toward a large, solid olive green metal container, and beckoned Axton to come with me. I opened it and to my luck, found two Dahl pistols. One for me, one for Axton. I grabbed them both, and tossed the other to Axton.

"Now that's what I'm talking about," He reached inside to collect ammo, and loaded the gun. I did the same, and pointed the gun towards the ground in a protective position.

"You all have the guns? Good," Clap-Trap rolled ahead of us, but collided with the wall instead. "Gah! Dammit." He shook himself off and moved to a mechanical device with various glowing buttons. He pressed the green one and the door leading outside opened.

"What do we do now?" I asked, while hurriedly running after Clap-Trap and with Axton on my heels.

"Let's go kill some Bullymongs,"

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	4. Chapter 4

**My apologies for the late update, but as I said before, high school and homework is just wasting my time. -_- Since I start up swim team again (which is three times a week for like two hours) next week, it will probably take me longer to write. Sorry about that!**

**Anyways, for now, enjoy! :)**

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"Let's go get my eye back!" Clap-Trap pumped his metal claw into the air and continued to roll forward at a very fast pace, not really caring about Axton and me steadily treading behind. I kept my gun low, but my finger on the trigger, just in case any Bullymongs decide to play serial killer.

A hard _thud, _followed by the cry of a frightened Clap-Trap, sounded a bit further from where I was. I picked up my speed and found Clap-Trap lying in the snow, squirming around like a fish out of water.

"Ahh! Help!" he cried out in a fit of panic.

I softly groaned and pulled him out of the snow, and back on his wheel. He shook himself off and raised both arms up in the air, victoriously. "Ha-ha! Thanks, Vault Hunter!" I grumbled my thanks and Clap-Trap raced ahead, spewing random comments that neither Axton nor I could pick out.

"I have a name, you know. Stupid robot," I muttered under my breath, and shot a scowl toward the way Clap-Trap went. I heard a low, husky laugh behind me, and Axton appeared right at my side.

"Fun robot, huh?" His mouth crinkled with a smile.

"Eh," I shrugged, not really knowing a negative, or positive, thought toward the robot. I let my feet go their own way, while I casted my gaze toward the sky at the strange, glowing moon with a large 'H' floating in front of it. Careless as I was, I didn't see the cliff that I was quickly approaching. My foot slipped on the icy rock, and to my horror, I began to fall. I let out a frightened scream, but a strong grip on my flailing arm stopped my fall, and propped me back on my two feet.

I whirled around and saw a smirking Axton behind me. "Thanks!" I breathed a sigh of relief, and pushed a strand of my blue hair out of my face.

"You're welcome, darlin'." He grinned, his green gaze settling on me.

Heat flared up inside me, and I glared at him. I absolutely hated it when people called me nicknames, especially when the monks called me 'child'. But 'darlin' was a bit more fitting name, even though nobody has ever called me that in my life. Since I actually liked Axton, I didn't threaten to phaselock him, or put a bullet through his brain.

My glare softened and turned to a reassuring smile, but my hand still clutched the handle of the gun very tightly. I stepped forward to look down the large gulley, overlooking a small moving mass fidgeting in the snow. I rolled my eyes and held the bridge of my nose with my fingers in annoyance. Clap-Trap was stuck in the snow, again-of course.

I looked at Axton. "I'm not helping him this time," He smiled, raising an eyebrow, and swung over the edge of the cliff. I gasped and scrambled to the edge, watching as he slid along the snow with no problems at all. Though, at the bottom he did tumble over a few times and fell on his back. After a moment, he sat up and brushed snow off his clothes, giving me thumbs up.

I giggled at his clumsiness, and jumped over the edge. I copied the same exact moves as Axton, but had more trouble. I felt like a bean being shaken around in a can, as I rolled down the slope.

"Oof!" I fell to the bottom, luckily on my back. Black, swirling stars glazed my vision, but soon afterwards, eventually cleared up.

Axton's face appeared above me, shining bright with a huge grin. "You okay?" he asked, while offering me a hand.

I grabbed it and shot up, shaking my hair of snow. "That was probably the most stupidest stunt I've ever done."

"Yeah, but it was fun!" I nodded in agreement with that. I gave him kudos at lease.

I looked around and saw Clap-Trap in the snow, spilling out curses. Axton walked over and pulled him free with one arm. "Thanks, big, burly, handsome man!"

"Uh, Axton," he said, running a hand through his hair.

"Yes! Axton, thanks. I promise I won't get stuck again!" Clap-Trap began rolling forward, but was stopped dead as a chorus of deep, bestial growls, similar to the Bullymong, sounded all around us. Suddenly two smaller Bullymongs jumped out of hollowed rocks, slowly prowling around us.

Clap-Trap screamed, and ran away, metal arms flailing. He then contracted his arms and wheel, until he looked like a box, a very timid, shaking box. "Protect me, squires!"

"I got this," Axton ran in front of me, throwing out his turret. It morphed into a large, machine gun and began impaling the Bullymongs with millions of metal, sharp bullets. Blood spurted out of them like rain, staining the snow a dark crimson. With a loud shriek of pain, they both simultaneously fell down, lying still and limp. Dead.

"Nice," I smirked at Axton, who smiled back.

More rage-filled growls echoed throughout the area, causing Axton and I to stand on guard, our guns aimed toward the source of the Bullymong sounds. One Bullymong, which was fairly bigger than the previous others, charged straight at me. Its claws looked as sharp and menacing as ever, eager to tear through flesh and bone.

To my instincts, I raised my left arm, feeling the electricity race through my veins. The creature was quickly trapped in, what I'd like to call, my swirling ball of death. Axton ultimately read my mind, and shot the vulnerable Bullymong right through the head with one shot. My phaselock released its body, and it fell to the ground with a sickening _Thud._

After a moment, the gulley was suddenly free of Bullymong growls and stood silent. "Are they gone?" Clap-Trap shot out of his safe position, looking around carefully, despite his empty eye socket.

"Yeah, for now." Axton answered, twirling his pistol around with a finger.

"Good, now follow me!" Clap-Trap resumed his traveling, rolling at much faster pace this time. When we reached a flat, icy landscape, Axton suddenly halted, holding his hand up in the air.

"What is it?" I asked, stopping next to him, and looking out far in front of us.

"Something doesn't feel right…" His words brought a puff of smoke in the air, and just as he predicted, Clap-Trap began moving back toward us, screaming, "KNUCKLEDRAGGER!" Something far bigger descended upon us, spitting ferocious growls and snarls.

Knuckledragger turned out to be a Bullymong, but a really big ass one. As I squinted intensely at it, I noticed something hanging around its chunky neck. Clap-Traps eye!

"Hey, that thing has Clap-Trap's eye on it!" I told Axton.

"My eye?" Clap-Trap perked up from his hiding. "Then kill that MOTHERFUCKER!" He shrieked.

Axton was already on it, throwing down his turret and safely sliding behind it for cover. "Yeah, you get him, honey!" Axton patted the turret, slightly grinning down at it. Wait, did he just call his _turret_ honey? I groaned and face palmed myself. He was one crazy man.

I ran toward Axton and his turret, launching bullets straight at the Knuckledragger, and slid next to Axton. "Hanging in there?" he asked.

"Yeah," I breathed, sneaking a glance at the pissed off Bullymong. It ran away from us, toward a large pile of trashed metal, and picked up what used to be a car. Before roaring a battle cry, it hurled the hulking piece of heavy metal straight at our crouched bodies.

"MOVE!" Axton's turret shrunk down to a smaller size and he quickly clipped it onto his bandolier. He grabbed my arm and pulled me to safety. The earth quaked as the car collided with the ground, instead of ourselves. Clearly annoyed and aggravated, Knuckledragger beat its chest and dashed toward us, presumably Axton.

I attempted to phaselock it, but dead weight pressed on my arm, causing pain to flood in. I gritted my teeth, and hugged my left arm close to my body. The creature was obviously too big and powerful to be phaselocked… for now, at lease.

I continued to shoot many rounds of my pistol at it, trying my best to injure or distract it. As it gained down on Axton, I saw him stay perfectly still, with the exception of his arm lowering down to his boot. The glint of steel shined in the slightly overcast sky, and he gripped the bowie knife tightly.

"Fuck…" Axton raised his arm back. "YOU!" He launched the knife directly at the oncoming Bullymong, and it whizzed quickly by, soon digging itself into the beast's face. Knuckledragger let out an ear-splitting shriek, pawing furiously at the knife sticking of its face. As it waved its head around, blood splattered the ground below like paint on a white canvas.

Axton ran at the struggling Bullymong, pulling out the knife, then stabbing it back into its stomach. He repeatedly stabbed the knife into its flesh, over and over again. Until the creature stopped moving and its blood spilled out of its body like a river, Axton finally stopped.

"Damn…" I murmured, as he turned around to face me. Half of his face was splattered with blood, but he still managed a grin.

"Now… that was badass!" he shouted to the heavens above. He walked toward me, polishing off the blade and placing it back into his boot. "Ha, you don't happen to have a towel or somethin'?" he asked.

I smirked, placing both hands on my hips. "I'm afraid I don't,"

Axton shrugged, passing a hand over his face, and wiping the wet crimson off on his pants. "Ugh, this is some nasty shit,"

"Clap-Trap! Coast is clear." I called to the fear-filled, trembling robot. He burst out of his scaredy-cat form, and slowly moved toward us.

"Great! Thanks again for protecting me. Now, could you get my eye?"

I walked over to the bloody body of Knuckledragger, snapping the string around its neck and collecting the eye.

"You have the eye? I know a guy who is really good with repairing clap-traps like me. If we get to him, he'll be able to put my eye back in."

"Why can't we just put your eye in now?" Axton asked.

"Oh no, no. You could do it wrong and screw up my vision!"

Axton let out a slightly annoyed and offended snicker, and I remained silent. "Off we go!" Clap-Trap began rolling away, and we followed closely behind.

After a moment of deafening silence, a voice rang in my head, kindly and feminine. At the same time, a face appeared in the corner of my vision. She was a young girl, possibly my age or younger, with flowing black hair and piercing, icy blue eyes. I swear I saw her before, or maybe heard of her.

"Vault Hunter, have no fear, but I am here to guide you," I kept silent, yet so many questions buzzed through my head. "Most people refer to me as, the Guardian Angel, and that's what I basically am to you. A little word on advice, but Handsome Jack, the man who nearly killed you, needs to die. His tyranny is too much… it needs to end."

The Guardian Angel was silent for a little bit, as we neared a large metal door. Clap-Trap looked up at it and focused on a keypad with a circular light in the middle. "Hey! It's me!" A laser passed over him, and the light shined red, while a robotic voice clearly stated, "Access denied."

"What?!" Clap-Trap confusingly looked at the device, while waving his arms around.

"Don't worry. I'll take care of this." Angel appeared once again in my sight, and the device turned green while the voice said, "Access granted." The door unlatched and slid open revealing the context of the shuttle. Many loot chests sat on the floor, while a larger, rectangular chest stood in the center.

"Maya, go along with Axton and make your way to Sanctuary. It is by far the safest refuge from Handsome Jack." Angel spoke to me again, this time actually saying my name. How did she know my name? I've never really seen her before. Or have I? I shook my head and refused to ask any questions aloud.

"You all might know already," Clap-Trap passed into the shuttle, turning around to face us. "But the possible safest place around here is Sanctuary. It's quite a ways from here, but I bet two strong vault hunters like you all, could make it!"

"Yeah…" Axton, obviously distracted by the large, neon glowing chest in the center, walked forwards and gazed upon it.

"Don't just stare at it, open it!" I called to him.

He quickly nodded his head, and popped it open. A swift _swoosh _sounded as the chest slid open. Inside two Jakobs shotguns sat, their silver surfaces glimmering under the dim light.

"Ooh…" Axton picked up one of the guns, observing the smooth, shiny exterior. He grabbed some shotgun shells and reloaded it. His childish laughs echoed through the metal walls, as he swung the aim around and pretended to shoot at imaginary enemies.

I rolled my eyes at his immatureness, and stepped forward to retrieve my own shotgun. As I slid the shells into the chamber, I couldn't help but feel a smile creep on my lips. Axton was really cute when he acted like a little kid… Wait, did I just call him cute? Ugh, I really got to get ahold of myself. These feelings are starting to mess with me.

"Grab whatever you need for your journey, and follow the funny robot out." Angel's voice once again rang through my head, but I ignored a majority of her words.

After grabbing the remaining shotgun shells, ammo, extra health shots, and even some traces of money, Clap-Trap led us outside. Axton and I paced next to each other and followed Clap-Trap until we reached another cliff. Out far in the distance, I saw a small town, with a couple houses and dens poking out along the snowy ground.

From what I saw, it looked completely abandoned. A couple bullymongs loitered around the entrance of the town, which was a tall, locked gate made out of trash pieces. Suddenly another voice sounded through my head, this time it wasn't Angel's, instead deeper, masculine, pure evil.

"Attention all bandit clans, it seems two vault hunters are still alive, and wandering this planet as I speak. I want them dead. So I'm offering a reward of a million bucks if the vault hunters are killed. I don't care how, just do the job. I'll give you a bonus if you bring me their heads. Happy hunting, bandits." As Jack's voice left my thoughts, anger began to seep into me. That bastard is going to get what's coming to him.

Soon another voice perked in my head, this time the tone was hoarse, aggressive, and slightly cocky. "A million bucks?! Ah yeah! Come on boys, let's get 'em vault hunters," I've never heard the voice before, but it sounded like a typical bandit.

"Hey," I looked at Axton. "Do you hear those voices?"

He nodded. "Yeah, don't worry. Those are just ECHO recordings. They're not really embedded in your brain or anything, it's the radio signals that the person talking sends to people that they want to hear them out."

"Oh, that makes sense," Though I kind of still didn't get it.

We descended off of the cliff, into the valley below where the ghost town stood. Clap-Trap once again raced forward, cowering as the bullymongs ran after him. Axton and I shot at the beasts, killing them with only a single death blow of our shotguns.

"Damn, I love this thing!" Axton exclaimed, looking the gun in his hands over again.

Clap-Trap moved around the bullymongs bodies, and in front of the tall, trashed gate. There was a switch on the side, where he swiftly disabled the security system and the gate began to moan in protest as it slowly slid upward.

"Oh no! There seems to be some bandit marauders hanging around inside the town. You don't mind if you kill them off, huh?" Clap-Trap whirled around to face us, though he currently still had no eye.

Axton sneaked into the town, and I followed him closely behind. He looked at my exposed, tattooed arm, and nodded toward the closest bandit wandering around. I raised my left arm, feeling the power flow through my blood, as the bandit was caught the large, swirling ball. Axton shot many shells at him, and the bandit fell to the ground, his body now a bloody pulp.

The others were now aware of us, and took cover behind piles of snow and rock. One opened fire at me, managing to let a bullet pierce my right shoulder. I held back a yelp of pain and ignored the agony creeping up on my shoulder. My pistol came up, shooting rounds at the bandit and landing a direct headshot. "Critical…" I murmured, while chuckling.

Axton took care of the last one, and we both stood up, making our way to the center of town. Clap-Trap blindly made his way after us.

Suddenly another ECHO voice rang inside my ears. "Clap-Trap, is that you? Oh boy… You didn't injure yourself again, did you? *Sigh* Alright… Vault Hunters, let him enter first." Clap-Trap, not having his vision at all, obeyed the man's orders, and instead ran directly into an electrical fence.

The sound of short circuits and a pain-filled Clap-Trap reached my ears, as he was electrocuted. He fell to the ground, a shade of burnt metal forming around him.

"My apologies, it's just his voice is _so_ annoying and sounds like a dying cat to my ears. I'll be right out."

Moments later, a man donning old Victorian's adventure outfit, came out of the nearest building. He had one missing leg and arm, and instead replaced it with mechanical, robotic-like parts. Using his right, mechanical arm, he saluted us in a polite way. "Sir Hammerlock, at your service."

"Greetings, Vault Hunters. I see you have met my old friend, Clap-Trap. Well, actually friend is a strong word… never mind. Now, just hand me his eye and I'll fix him up."

I scooped the eye out of my pocket and dropped it into his metal hand. He walked over to Clap-Trap's downed body and kneeled on one knee. After a minute of inserting and wiring, Clap-Trap jumped up, spinning around and letting out high-pitched noises of happiness.

"Yes! I can see again!"

"Oh God, he's talking again…" Hammerlock looked away from the annoying robot.

As Clap-Trap celebrated having his sight back, I glanced at Axton, then to our surroundings, especially the bloody, dead bandit corpses.

I wondered to myself, will we make it to see tomorrow?

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**Longer than I expected... but oh well.**

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	5. Chapter 5

**Here's chapter 5. Again, I'm sorry for the long wait for an update. It might take me a week or two to update, depending on how much I have written. This chapter takes place a couple days after the previous chapter. **

**Enjoy! :)**

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I laid in an old, torn up sleeping bag which I happened to find, staring up at the ceiling of the small tent. It has been a couple since saying goodbye to Hammerlock, who has assigned Axton and me in killing Captain Flynt's men and also the bandit leader himself. I lifted the sleeping bag cover off me, revealing my bloody bandage covering my lower abdomen. I acquired the wound while fighting against Boom and Bewm, also known as the asshole brothers, and an entire hoard of bloodthirsty bandits and psychos.

It was good thing Axton had my back, until I got injured. Then he happily offered to carry me to safety. I'm such a stupid klutz! I definitely owe him my life. A strewn of soft snores floated throughout the tent, and I slowly rolled onto my side, careful not to disturb the wound. Axton slept beside me, a blanket was loosely wrapped from his waist-down and his arms were stretched out above his head, giving off an awkward position. He still looked pretty funny, though.

Axton's military brown leather jacket was sprawled on the floor, and underneath he wore a tight white shirt which he currently wore in his slumber.

I returned to lying on my back, after deciding to leave Axton to sleep in peace, and unclipped the journal on my thigh. The cover was lavender purple and the pages were turning old and fragile. Inside were the words, "Maya's Journal" in small, black print. The monks gave me this when I was only an infant, but I gained interest in writing in it when I was in my teens.

I would write everything from my personal opinions to my deepest secrets. Once in a while, I would write a journal entry on how my day went or how much I hated the monks, well- mostly the first one. I searched through the pocket on the side of my pant leg, and pulled out a pen.

_Day five on Pandora._

_It isn't half as bad as I expected, okay I'm lying. It's terrible. The wildlife here want to tear you into pieces and feed on your intestines, and there's barely any human population here, despite the ruthless bandit clans and deranged psychos. I've only met a couple friendly people and natives, but probably won't find a lot more later on. I still haven't found any information on Sirens, or any others for the matter of fact. I may be the only one on this planet. The craziness of the place is driving me insane, and I'm on the brink of just leaving, but there's only one person stopping me from doing so. Axton. I met him the first day I came, nice guy, pretty funny, can be arrogant and weird at times, but overall he's awesome. _

_I don't know but after going through all this together with him, surviving the train explosion, killing bandits and other forms of danger, and journeying side-by-side, I may be falling for him. He's warm-hearted, caring, and his cockiness can be matched by his wit. And the best of all, he's incredibly handsome. _

I sighed, stealing a glance at Axton, who now had his back turned toward me and was using his bicep as a pillow. I smiled and focused my attention back at my journal.

_Hopefully we survive whatever Pandora has to throw at us. I must now get some rest. It's gonna be a long day tomorrow._

I slid the pen back into my pocket and closed my journal, securely fastening it back onto my belt. I pulled the covers of the sleeping bag up to my chest and as soon as I shut my eyes, sleep overwhelmed me.

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My eyes fluttered opened to the thin stream of sunlight poking through the openings of the tent, and the large, shadowed mass in front of my view. As I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes, I saw it was Axton, crouching at the opening of the tent, his back turned toward me.

I noticed he was shirtless. His white shirt was now tucked in the back pocket of his olive cargo pants, loosely tangling down. I gazed at his bare back, observing in awe at the muscular curve of his shoulders, and the many pale, jagged scars that crisscrossed his upper and lower back. How did he get all those vicious-looking scars?

I slowly sat up, careful not to make any noise to alert Axton. It didn't work. His head tilted to the side, half his face looking at me with a grin plastered onto his lips.

"Good mornin'." he kindly greeted, turning around to face me, but still stayed in a crouch. I felt heat creep into my cheeks as I caught sight of his rather sculpted chest. He had a very nice body, better than most men I'd seen shirtless, and that has been very few. A three slash scar reached from his right pec, to the left side of his stomach. It was pale and barely noticeable, but I could still see it clearly from where I sat. I was truly mortified by the scar. What kind of beast, or deadly contraption, could've caused such a wicked mark?

Axton crawled over next to me and sat, hugging his legs close to his body with both arms. He looked at me, a grin shining brightly. I looked at him, though I was completely speechless and I struggled to make my lips move. "Oh come on, never seen a guy shirtless before?" he asked, his voice having an edge of humor.

"No, it's just…" My eyes trailed down to stare at his abs once more. I barely saw his arm reach out, and felt his finger under my chin, lifting my gaze back up to his face. At first, I thought he was going to kiss me, and I started to mentally panic. But he just continued to look at me.

"Yes?" Axton mused, his eyes sparkling in the sunlight.

"Where'd you get all those scars?" I quickly changed what I was actually thinking.

"Oh, most of them are from military training and boot camp. Yeah, you actually get hurt a lot and it was pretty brutal. And the others are from war, or just random battles I've encountered." Axton said.

I nodded, when my attention turned toward the three slash scar on his chest. "How about that one? I gestured to it.

Axton's face suddenly turned dark and he lowered his head. "I'd rather not discuss about it… it's not because of you, it's just I don't want to talk about it…"

"Oh, okay, sorry." I looked down and fiddled with the zipper of the sleeping bag.

I felt the gentle weight of Axton's hand on my shoulder, and I looked at him. He wore a comforting smile on his face and his eyes shined with forgiveness. "Hey, don't worry 'bout it. It's no problem." I smiled weakly at him and watched as he stood up, slipping his white shirt back on.

"We should probably get going now," He picked up his discarded brown jacket on the ground, and put it on. I stood out of the sleeping bag and crumbled it up into a smaller size, hiding it in the dark corner of the tent. I didn't want to leave any evidence for future wanderers or bandits to discover. Axton thought the same way as me, and kicked his sleeping bag into the same place as mine.

He slid his bandolier and backpack strap over his chest, closing the buckles and tightening the straps. A sleek, black Dahl rifle leaned against the wall, and he picked it up, reloading the magazine and slinging it over his shoulder. I flattened down my ruffled clothes and in secrecy, I pulled out a small container from my pocket, which was actually my makeup accessories. Hey, I still wanted to look good no matter what.

While applying some more of my blue lipstick, I heard a playful snicker from behind. Turning around, I saw Axton, his arms crossed and his white teeth showing in a huge grin. "Really?" he sarcastically laughed.

"What?" I defensively spoke. "I still need to keep up my appearance."

Axton walked up to me, shoving his hands into his pockets with his thumbs poking out. "You don't need makeup."

I scoffed. "Yeah, I do."

"You're beautiful just the way you are."

I stopped what I was doing, and looked up at him. His face was calm and expressionless, his eyes trained directly at me. "Y-you really think so?" I stuttered out. To be honest, I've never been called 'beautiful' before, also not even thinking myself as that either.

"Absolutely, you're probably one of the most gorgeous girls I've ever met," Axton began to slightly blush, showing he was getting nervous. I couldn't help but feel a tear come to my eye, and I smiled brightly. Moments later, my body lurched forward and I caught him a huge embrace.

It nearly pushed him back, but he kept his stance. I felt his arms snake around my waist and hold me close, and I locked my arms around his neck, burying my face into his padded shoulder. He was warm and gentle, the smell of gun powder and cheap cologne wafted from him strongly, but it comforted me. His hand slid down my waist and thigh, over the exposed part of my hip. I shuddered as the feeling of his hand passed over my skin, warm and calloused.

We pulled away from our embrace and stared into each other's eyes. His pretty green eyes burned into mine, keeping me from blinking or looking away. As the moment heated up, I began to slowly lean in, simultaneously closing my eyes and slightly puckering my lips.

Just as I thought our lips almost touched, a voice started loudly speaking outside the tent. Axton and I both moved away from each other, our faces showing sadness and anger. Axton cursed under his breath and ran a hand through his hair, truly frustrated about the person outside interrupting our 'almost' kiss.

As I turned away to pick up my gun, I blushed and pressed my lips firmly together, depressed that they didn't get to taste his. A slight pang of pain surged up my side and I clutched it with a hand, groaning softly. Shit, I completely forgot about my wound. I was so caught up with Axton and such, that I didn't even feel the pain.

"Oh, dammit!" Axton raced to my side, supporting my body with a muscled arm. "I'm sorry, Maya. I forgot entirely about your wound!"

I chuckled lightly and slowly shook my head. "It's okay, Axton. It doesn't hurt as much as it did yesterday. I'll be fine."

He nodded and backed away, but still kept a vigilant eye on me. I reloaded my pistol and slung an extra simple machine gun over my shoulder, also not forgetting to equip myself with a couple grenades. Axton quickly glanced back at me and moved toward the opening, peering outside with his hands gripping the rifle.

I slunk toward him and stopped at the opposite side of the opening from him, both hands holding my pistol tightly. "What do you see?" I asked, looking at Axton.

He laughed softly. "Just a psycho talking to himself like an idiot. Here, I'll take care of him." Axton raised his rifle to eye level and aimed straight at the psycho. With a quick flick of his finger, the psycho's head blew off like a watermelon meeting a bullet. His body instantly fell to the ground in a pool of blood and pieces of brain, but at the same time, more bandits began to move out of nowhere.

"Damn," Axton muttered, reloading his rifle at the same time. "Didn't know he had friends."

The bandits began to open fire at us, and we both dropped to the ground. I crawled on my stomach toward a large wooden crate and ducked behind it. Axton followed closely and did the same. I peeked out to see a Goliath appear from behind the mass of bandits, dual wielding machine guns.

"Crap, there's a goliath!" I yelled to Axton.

"Really? Shit…" He looked out and shot widely at the approaching group. He managed to cut down a few bandits, but the goliath was like an unstoppable tank.

"Shoot his head off!" I ordered Axton.

He looked at me like I was crazy. "But, Maya, that's suicide right there!"

"I have a plan, trust me!" He stared at me for moment, then jumped up and went absolutely berserk with the SMG he was carrying. Shouting out insults and curses like a mad man, Axton seemed to help my plan work. The bandits, plus the goliath, targeted him and shot all of their lead toward him.

However, he was fast enough to dodge out of the way, and into cover from the impending bullets. He shot a couple more rounds at them, and it struck the goliath's head off. The goliath threw down his guns in rage, and immediately, his skull and spine burst out of the stump of his neck. It gave me chills just looking at him, but I forced myself to focus.

The goliath began to attack his allies in a fit of wrath and blood. They struggled to fight back, but he was just too powerful. He beat down almost all of the bandits, including snapping the neck of a psycho like a toothpick, which I kind of found amusing.

I rolled out of cover and saw the goliath morphed into form much bigger than his original self. "MORE POWER!" He screamed, while laughing psychotically.

"Badass incoming!" I heard Axton yell over the gunfire and the sounds of bones breaking and blood spilling. I quickly threw out a grenade and watched as it exploded, blowing the goliath clearly off of his feet. While he was paralyzed on the ground, I phaselocked him and Axton quickly threw down his collapsible turret.

As the turret tore up the goliath in a storm of bullets, Axton walked over to it, smiling and stroking the smooth metal of its side.

I moved next to him, crossing my arms across my chest and arching an eyebrow in an amusing way. "I swear, if you call that thing 'honey', 'wifey', or whatever one more time, I will crush it to pieces." Axton looked at me with a slightly serious, piercing gaze, but then he let out a fit of chuckles. I joined in with him, and gave him a small side hug.

But as we pulled away from our hug, I stared at him. My heart began to ache with the need of his arms around me, and my lips tingled to meet his.

I was definitely truly, madly, deeply in love.

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**Oh, this was so beautiful to write! Mostly the loving scene, not when the Goliath pounds bandits heads in. :P Okay, I have a challenge for all of my lovely readers. If you can guess where the very last sentence "Truly, madly, deeply in love" came from, I'll PM you, congratulating you, and acknowledge you on my profile.**

**Here's a hint: It's the name of a song by my favorite band. **


	6. Chapter 6

**Wow, got to admit, this is probably the first time that I've updated two chapters in the same week. Round of applause for me! :P This chapter may be a bit short, but I was lazy since it was Thanksgiving. And I just got Assassin's Creed III (VERY awesome game, if you don't have it, I command you to go get it!) and yeah, it may take a while to write the next chapter...**

**Also, the answer to my previous challenge was... *Drum roll* One Direction! Yay! Sorry, it wasn't Savage Garden (I honestly have no idea who they are.) And congratulations to Magneseus, who was the first to answer, and be correct, about it. You are awesome, dude! :D Well, ALL of my readers are awesome. I love you all! 3**

**Okay, enough of my pointless babbling. Enjoy the chapter! :)**

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_Vroom! _The wheels of the buggy skid over mounds of sand and gravel, kicking up a cloud of dust behind. I clutched my stomach in agony, afraid that my lunch might be making a second appearance. Axton's driving was definitely not the best. My hands gripped both handles on opposite sides of me, as the car made a couple sudden turns and slides.

I looked to my side to see Axton with one hand on the steering wheel, and the other being dragged through the spiked locks of his hair. He focused about half of his attention on the rear-view mirror, where he smiled in wonder and arched an eyebrow flirtatiously, at himself.

I pinched the bridge of my nose in both annoyance and obviousness. With a quick reach of my arm, I lightly cuffed him on the arm.

"Hey, Prince Charming! Pay attention to the damn road!" I yelled over the roar of the engine and the loud crushing of gravel.

He looked at me, a grin painted on his lips. "Oh, was that supposed to be a compliment?" It seems he only heard the first part, and not the rest.

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, right." I sarcastically said, while staring out at the road in front of us. Well, it wasn't much of a road, more of a large, sandy terrain. As I looked out into the far distance, I spotted a couple moving dark shapes. I put a hand above my eyes to block out the sun and squinted, I had no idea what it was, but I wanted to find out.

Without taking a peek to my side, I hastily tapped Axton's arm. "Ax, what's that?" His gaze followed my outstretched arm and pointed finger, at the shadowed figures.

He slightly frowned and slowed down the car. "Quickly, get my binoculars, inside my pack." He guestered with his head to the pack strapped to his back. I reached in with a hand and fumbled around, until my fingers touched sometime small and metal.

I pulled out the binoculars and looked into them. I immediately saw the figures and realized it was human-most likely a man- being surrounded by a pack of skags. They were about five of those nasty things, three pups and two bigger alphas. The man was bloody and his clothing torn up. I noticed he had no weapons whatsoever, and instead used one arm to grip his side painfully, and the other to try and wave off the skags.

"What do you see?" Axton asked, both hands gripping the steering wheel and his gaze focused straight ahead.

"It looks like some guy being attacked by skags!" I frantically yelled. "We need to help him!"

Axton shook his head. "No, it's his problem, not ours! Let's just get outta here." As he started to turn the wheel to go a different direction, my hand shot to the wheel and quickly turned it back.

I stared intensely at him "No. We _are _helping him. I don't care what you say."

He returned my stare, then lifted both hands off the wheel and raised them in a defeated position. "As you say. Go ahead, take the wheel, sweetheart." I glared at him for a second and took control of the wheel. It was quite awkward since I was practically leaning on top of him. I could tell he was enjoying it as I felt his breath, warm and tingly, blow on the back of my neck from his small chuckles.

I started to feel his hand trail down my side and almost to my buttocks. "Not. Now." I growled, my cheeks beginning to heat up and turn crimson. _But, maybe later perhaps…_ I thought, a mischievous smirk curling on my lips.

As I stared out at the man and skags, an idea came to mind. "Axton, floor it!" Without any hesitation or questions, he put the pedal to the metal and the car punched forward at a fast speed. I directed the car right at the pack of skags, and managed to run a few over.

The car slightly lurched upward as it came in contact with the skags bodies, and blood splattered all over the windshield. "Road kill!" Axton amusingly called out, something he always says whenever we run over a creature or bandit.

"Stop!" I commanded to him, who quickly pushed down the brake. The tires came to a screeching halt and we both jumped out. About two skags, both pups, turned their attention on us. They growled menacingly, trying to be intimidating, slowly crept on us.

In one swift move, Axton dual-wield two pistols and killed both skags with one shot of both guns. I smirked and placed a hand on my hip, while looking at him to my side. "Show off." I muttered in a comical-like tone.

He grinned widely and blew off the pistols, sliding them back into the holsters on his pack.

I saw the man limping toward us, still clutching his side tightly and softly grunting in pain. I jogged toward him and Axton followed behind.

"Hey bro, you okay?" Axton called to the injured man. I glared at him and felt like face palming myself, but didn't.

The man looked up and the faintest of all scowls appeared on his face. "D-does it look l-like I'm okay?" he sputtered out in pure sarcasm and mockery. As I approached the man, I found his appearance…quite unique and rather a sight for sore eyes.

He was very tall, like a full foot taller than me, even scraping by a couple inches than Axton was. He wore loose, navy blue cargo pants that were now ripped up and bloodied, and he wore black combat boots that reached his mid-calf. A black and silver armored jacket fittingly covered his upper body. With the cuffs of his jacket rolled up to his elbows, his exposed forearms looked tight with strong muscles.

As I took a closer look, I noticed a lace of blue ink stretching all over his left forearm and even reached to his fingers. I glanced at my left arm, then to his, and nearly fell over dead. I began swaying and slowly fell backwards, but only to be caught in Axton's arms.

"Maya! You alright?" he asked. I ignored his question and stared in disbelief at the man. I know it was rude, but I pointed at the man's tattooed left arm, and shockingly said, "S-siren. He's a siren!"

I couldn't believe it. A male siren? It wasn't genetically possible. Everyone knew that there are only six sirens at a time in the whole universe, and all were female. I stood up from the ground, brushing off the dust from my pants, and walked up to the man.

"You're a siren, right?" I asked, looking straight at him. His hair. That was probably the most beautiful part of his complexion. It was cut short in a buzz-cut like style, but a portion of hair still remained in the front and was spiked up. It was strange how his hair resembled Axton's in a way. His hair was jet black but a light sliver streak passed through the middle.

The man smiled, despite his injured side. "Yes, very much so. I see you're one too, eh?"

"Yeah…" I trailed off as I stared into his eyes, which was a rich slate color.

Axton cleared his throat rather loudly. "Hate to break up the siren-on-siren meet and greet, but we are practically sitting ducks just standing here,"

"He's right. Come on, follow us." I followed Axton, who started making his way to the car.

"My name's Maya, by the way." I told the man, who walked up to my side. "And that's Axton," I pointed to the anxious commando who sat in the car, honking the horn obnoxiously.

"Is he you're boyfriend?" The man asked. My eyes widened and my mouth nearly gaped open in shock.

"Uh, no. Not really," I bit my tongue as I lied, starting to taste the metallic in my mouth after the pain.

"Not really, huh? So you have feelings for him?

I glared toward the ground and felt like phaselocking him on the spot, but it probably won't affect him as much since he's a siren. "No! Just… shut up," I muttered and walked faster ahead of him.

I heard his laughter drift toward my ears even as I got to the car.

"So, what's your name?" Axton asked the man, as he moved closer to car.

"Pierce." he said, as I helped him into the backseat. He brushed away the silver tress of hair that began to droop down his forehead.

"Ax, you don't mind if I sit in the back with Pierce?" I asked. He frowned slightly and his shoulders sunk, but he nodded. I jumped in the back and the car began moving until it hit a steady, semi-fast speed. A compactible, white box with a red cross was stored under my seat, and I pulled it out.

"How bad is your injury?" I asked Pierce. He removed his arm that was soaked in his own blood, and underneath was a deep-looking slash. Most of the bleeding had stopped, but infection could kick in at any moment. I took out a large cotton ball and a bottle of disinfecting alcohol.

"Take off your jacket." I ordered. With no protests or questions at all, he did as I told him to. Under the jacket, Pierce wore a ragged, bloodstained black shirt. He slipped the undergarment off, yet groaning in pain as it disturbed his wound. I stared at him while he did so, fascinated by seeing the siren tattoos on a male body. It looked like a work of art.

I leaned forward to examine the slash and began to pour the alcohol onto the cotton ball.

Pierce looked at me with wide eyes. "Will it hurt?"

"Probably. Don't be a pussy about it." I heard a low chuckle from Axton and rolled my eyes. As the alcohol-soaked cotton met with Pierce's wound, he let out a sudden hiss and his tattoos began to illuminate. After a few seconds, the lightened tattoos dimed down and turned back to normal.

"Hanging in there?" I asked him.

He let out a long sigh. "Yeah, it hurt like hell, but at least I won't get an infection now. Thanks."

"No problem," I wrapped the wound up with a bandage and watched as Pierce slipped his apparel back on.

"So, where are y'all heading to?" he asked, leaning back in his seat and placing his hands behind his head.

"We were going to Captain Flynt's place to take him down, until you got in the way," Axton called from the front. I shot a small glare toward the back of his head, but I smiled kindly as I looked back at Pierce.

"Don't worry about him," I whispered to him. "He's probably jealous or something."

"Jealous? Of what, us?" Pierce asked, passing a hand nervously through his hair.

I shrugged, leaning forward and placing both elbows on my knees. "I dunno. But that would be weird, right?" Pierce let out a noise that sounded like a cross between a snort and laugh.

After a moment of nothing but silence and the sound of the revving engine, Pierce spoke up. "Maya, since you're a siren, what's your power?"

I perked, excited about finally talking about sirens, since that was my main objective when I came to Pandora. "Phaselock. I'm capable of trapping enemies in something I like to call the 'ball of death' where they are rendered helpless and vulnerable. And then they die a slow, painful death."

Pierce looked at me with his luminous, grayish-blue eyes, interest and curiously floating around in them. "Fascinating. I bet you're a girl most people don't want to mess with, eh?"

I giggled softly. "Yep, that's what mostly happens to anyone who gets in my way."

He grinned and fidgeted with the zipper on his jacket. "I guess you want to know my power by now."

I nodded vigorously. "Absolutely."

"Well, it's something I like to call, phasebolt. I'm able to produce a wide effect of electricity that can end up pretty devastating and fatal. Let's just say, I once killed a group of twenty men with one bolt of lightning." He crossed his arms and smirked amusingly at me.

I was mind-blown. "Wow… seriously?"

He nodded, but stopped dead as he took a look off in the distance from where we drove.

"Pierce? What is it?" I asked, struggling to follow his line of sight, but couldn't really pinpoint what he was looking at.

"Uh, guys!?" Axton yelled. "We got company!"

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**I see you've met Pierce, eh? He was just a random OC that I suddenly made up. Also, he's a siren. What?! A male siren?! Yes, this should be interesting.**

**And sorry about the cliffhanger, looks like you'll just have to wait and find out what happens next later!**

**Okay I will see you all next chapter! Remember, don't forget to leave a review! :)**


	7. Chapter 7

**Haiii everybody :) Sorry I wasn't able to update in a while... As usual I had my busy life... So, you'll have to be very patient with me, because guess what? I'm going on vacation to Europe! :D I'll be staying there for two weeks, and will be back at the end of December. Unfortunately, I'm not able to bring my laptop with me so I'll just write a bit the old-fashioned way! Yayy...**

**For now, enjoy the chapter! (It's kind of shocking toward the end...)**

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I shot up out of my seat to look out ahead of the car, holding onto the metal bar to keep from losing my balance. Two bandit technical vehicles, similar to one we were riding in, charged out of a cloud of dust. They zoomed at full speed right at us, and then split up to drive past both sides of our car.

A flurry of bullets flew at both Pierce and I, but we dropped down safely to dodge it. They shot at Axton, but a portion of the driver door protected him. While keeping one hand on the wheel, he managed to cross one arm over the other and shoot a couple rounds of his pistol at the bandits.

What a lucky shot that was, for he landed a bullet right into the driver's head and the car began to swerve wildly, eventually tumbling over and exploding into a blaze of fire, car parts, and tangled limbs.

I cheered rather loudly, congratulating Axton on his badass kill. He looked into the rear-view mirror and gave me a crooked grin, raising an eyebrow flirtatiously.

Pierce sat up slowly from his cover and looked back, smiling at the sight of the trashed bandit car. "Nice," he said, glancing toward the back of Axton's head.

The other bandit vehicle punched the pedal until they kept pace next to us. Out of nowhere, a psycho jumped out of the bandit car and landed where Pierce and I stood, unaware and distracted. As I spotted the smaller, blood-crazed man, I let out a frightened shriek and nearly fell backwards.

Pierce towered over the psycho, glaring down at him. He lunged down and wrapped an arm around the psychotic man, slowly choking the life out of him. The muscles in Pierce's arm rippled as he jerked the psycho's head to the side, instantly killing him.

He picked up the limp body with one arm, and threw it out of the car. I looked at him, dumbfounded. "Thanks," I sighed, pushing a strand of hair out of my face.

Pierce nodded and gave me a warm-hearted smile. "No problem," Our attention suddenly shot towards the impending bandit car, that once again, tried to annihilate us.

I groaned. "God, when are those guys ever going to give up?!"

"I got this." Pierce leaped on the side of our car, and shrank to a steady crouch position. He lifted an arm, particularly his left, tattooed one, and aimed two fingers at the bandit car, in a gun-shaped form. In the blink of an eye, a bolt of neon lightning shot out of his fingers, immediately striking his target.

The bandit car exploded into a mingle of flames and bloody body parts. Pierce blew his fingers off like a gun, and jumped down from his crouch. He straightened up in front of me and grinned like a fool.

"That… was impressive," I finally said, after a moment of staring into his sparkling, metallic eyes.

"Really? It got really boring after using it for twenty-nine years straight. Well, scratch out my infant-to-kid years." He stretched his arms, showing off his… _incredible_ biceps.

I took a seat, trying to rest up my rather tired and aching body. Pierce sat beside me, sitting a bit too close for comfort. I stirred uncomfortably and slid my hands along the leathery cotton of my pants. As I looked downwards, struggling to avoid Pierce's gaze, I heard an aggravated, deep clearing of someone's throat, who was none other than, Axton.

I didn't even notice that the car had come to a stop. I was too fixated on Pierce's uncomfortable position. Pierce saw Axton and scooted a bit away from me, twiddling his thumbs like nothing happen.

After a short-period of awkward silence and hostile glares from Axton, he finally spoke up.

"I was thinking about setting up camp here for the night. It's getting late, and I'm getting tired."

I nodded. "Yeah, good idea. But wait," I stopped Axton, who was beginning to retrieve the tents and sleeping bags from the trunk. "-what about all the bandits? Aren't you afraid they'll come back?"

He shook his head, while heaving out the tent and a couple sleeping bags and blankets. "Nah, I'm sure they won't be bothering us. I drove way out of the desert, into a more "shielding" environment." I looked around and saw he was right. We currently stood in the more tree and vegetation covered part of Pandora. It looked like a typical forest you would see anywhere else, but with a bit more clearing and some odd plants that I've never seen before in my life.

I helped Axton put up the tent and set up the sleeping equipment. Axton looked to his side where Pierce stood, keeping his distance and watching us amusingly.

"You gonna help, or what?" Axton called out rudely, to the dazed Siren. Pierce snapped out of his trance and looked at us with wide eyes.

"Oh, sorry about that…" He jogged to my side and pulled out a sleeping bag for himself, and helped Axton set up the tent.

As they did so, I stared at them, my hands on my hips. I know I probably should be helping them out, but… they look like they got it taken care of. After the tent was set up and held down, I crawled inside and spread out my sleeping bag. I was completely exhausted. It has been such a long day.

Axton entered and did the same with his pillow and ragged blanket. He laid beside me, pretty closer than usual, and smiled at me. But his smile faded as Pierce came into the tent, his sleeping bag tucked under an arm.

"No, no," Axton stood up and shoved the nylon and cotton covers backed into Pierce's arms. "You're sleeping outside. NOW."

"Axton!" I shot up and crouched defensively in front of Pierce. "What the hell's wrong with you?!"

Pierce shook his head in defeat. "No, it's fine, Maya. I'll be outside if you need me." With that, he gathered his sleeping bag and slipped out.

I took up my own bag and followed after him. I didn't forget to shoot a hostile glare at Axton, who had a distraught look on his face.

As I went outside, I immediately spotted Pierce setting up his sleeping bag in a patch of bushes and grass only a few feet away from the tent. He looked up at me, first looking surprised, and then slowly began to smile.

"Maya, you're here," he said, his tone of voice not changing.

"Yeah, why? You don't want me here?" I smirked in amusement.

"No!" He leaped up in incredibly speed, then noticing what he did, blushed slightly and cleared his throat, awkwardly. "Uh-I mean, no. I'd love your company."

"Good answer." I unfolded my bag beside his, and plopped myself down, sighing as I stretched my tired, sore muscles. "Ah, this is nice…"

Pierce laid down on his back, placing his hands behind his head, and looked at me from the side. "I know… oh wow, the sky looks so beautiful at night,"

I gazed up and he was absolutely right. Millions of tiny, twinkling stars dotted the dark sky and the full moon shined boldly and brightly above. Even with the giant, ugly "H" implanted in the moon, it still looked pretty at this view. I could picked out a few constellations and name them, but others I had no idea what they were called. The monks back on my home planet never taught me astronomy, or any kind of science for the matter of fact. I only knew some of it due to the books I read. At least they taught me one important and valuable aspect: How to read.

A swirly wave of sea green and pink began leaking into the night sky. It looked like someone took a paintbrush and splattered those colors on the sky. It was so breath-taking.

"Look," Pierce pointed up toward a streak of light grazing across. "A shooting star."

I've never seen one of those before. It's not like I spent most of my life outside, actually very rarely. I was mostly confined in a small, jail-like room with barely any space to think. The monks did let me outside though, but only to do meditating, exercises, or to get a breath of fresh air. The monastery was basically living hell to me.

"Make a wish," Pierce said.

I looked at him oddly, but did as he said and closed my eyes. _I wish I could be truly loved by someone…_

I opened my eyes to see the shooting star had disappeared.

"So… Maya." Pierce rolled on his side to look at me, and I did the same. "Tell me more about yourself. I'm curious." I smiled and began to talk about my very fucked up childhood and life. About how from when I was basically zero years old to now, I trained with the monks on Athenas. Twenty seven years. Twenty fucking years was how long I had to put up with the same shit every day. It got so boring, so fast. I also explained how I found out the monks were using me to strike fear into the civilians of Athenas, and how I killed my own mentor.

"Wow… you have one interesting origin," Pierce said, after I finished telling him everything.

"I know right?" I brushed a strand of my hair out of my face. "How about you, Pierce? What's your life like?"

He glanced at me, and sighed. "Alright, I'll tell you. But it's god awfully long…" He began talking about how his parents were a man named Connor, and a woman named Natalie. His father was a part of the military, not sure which rank, but he was probably in the same group that Axton is. Pierce talked about how he rarely saw his father because of him being on duty all the time, and didn't get to know him too well.

His mother, Natalie, was intriguingly… a Siren. She was one of the older sirens, and unfortunately is not alive to this day.

"What happened to her?" I asked.

Pierce had a sudden shadow of guilt and sorrow masquerade his face. "She… was killed by Hyperion soldiers…" he choked out through tears.

A weight of sadness pushed down on me, and silence kept me from speaking.

"We decided to visit Pandora… I don't know why, this place is a shithole…" He sat up and hugged his legs close to his chest.

"How about your father, Connor?" I asked, sitting up and went into cross-legged position.

"He never came. He was on a mission on a completely different planet light-years from here… I haven't heard from him since."

"Oh my God, Pierce… I never realized," I squirmed closer to him and hooked an arm around his shoulders, slowly leaning into his defined body.

"It's not your fault, Maya. I'll be fine…"

After a moment of silence, and multiple glances up at the night sky, I spoke up. "Is that why you're still here on Pandora? To get revenge?"

He nodded and gritted his teeth in anger. "Oh hell yeah."

"So, tell me why you were getting nearly mauled by some stupid skags, when you're one of the most powerful beings in the universe?" I asked.

"Oh about that… I'm not like other sirens. When I get badly injured, like I was before, somehow my powers don't work. It's been like that ever since I discovered I had them." he said, running a hand through the silver streak in his hair.

"Really? That's not like me at all." I said. "You sure you're an actual siren?"

Pierce looked at me like I was a dumbass, which I'm not, I was just making sure. "Well duh, Maya." He reached over and gently knocked my noggin, causing me to swat him away and laugh. "What are these tattoos for, then?" He lifted his exposed, tattooed left arm, comparing it to mine as well. "And you did witness me phasebolt the shit out of those bandits, right?"

"Well, yeah…" I said, blushing because of my obvious, utter stupidity.

"There you go. I'm one hundred percent _siren_." He said, smiling and lying back down.

"Alright," I punched him playfully in the arm, and he shot up, tackling me to the ground. I yelped and started giggling like a little kid. He was laughing as well, happiness literally pouring out of him. We playfully wrestled in the grass, but he was winning since I was not trying at all. After all the tossing and rolling around, he ended up leaning- well, technically lying- on top of me.

I stared up into Pierce's face, particularly his eyes, realizing how beautiful they looked in the moonlight. His dimples poked through his curved cheeks from his smile, and his spiked hair now partially drooped down his forehead from our roughhousing.

I continued to look up at him, and he slowly began to lower his head. Before I even realized it, his lips were on mine. They were kind of rough, but comforting at the same time. He held the kiss for a couple seconds, but pulled apart as a gasp sounded from behind us.

He crawled off of me, to let me sit up. As I turned around to see who it was, I saw the usual handsome face that I was use to. This time, his face was full of shock and hurt… especially hurt.

My heart skipped a beat.

It was Axton.

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**Another cliffhanger! I'm wonderful, aren't I? ;) Bare with me, I promise the next chapter will be up when I get back.**

**Bye-bye! See you in 2-3 weeks!**

**Remember to leave a review, follow, or favorite! Or all three! I'll love you forever if you do that! :D**


	8. Chapter 8

**I'm baaaaacccck! :D Haha, I'm really sorry for not updating in like- a month? Maybe more? I have no idea, anyways, my trip to France and Italy was  
A-MAZING! I can't wait to go back again, particularly Italy... If you want to know more about my awesome vacation, simply PM me if you want.**

**Sooo this chapter may seem a bit shorter than the previous others, but that's because I'm really busy (studying for exams and struggling to go to swim practice...) and I'm saving all of the long writing for the next chapter. **

**OH! Before I forget. I set up a poll on my profile for quite a while now, and only three people have voted... -_- Seriously guys?! I need more than that! When you have the time, please vote on my page! Thanks! :)**

**Now, enjoy the chapter!**

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His face was contorted into a look mingling with both anger and heartache. His slightly hanging open jaw curved into a fierce snarl, and he clenched his fists together so tightly, that you could see the white forming in them. I stared at him with wide, shocked eyes, not moving, and definitely not breathing.

_Stupid! Stupid! _I mentally slapped myself in the face. How could I do this to Axton? I knew he liked me a lot, maybe it even turned into love, and I loved him too… When I looked back up, Axton wasn't standing there anymore. Instead he was walking quickly over to Pierce, in an aggressive and distressed manor.

_Thwack! _A scream nearly escaped my lips as I saw Axton's fist connect with Pierce's jaw. Pierce fell to the ground with a disgruntled, muffled groan. I watched helplessly, a gloved hand over my mouth and my gaze glued to the Siren.

Axton stood over Pierce, his fists clutched together so tight, I could see the white of his knuckles. His lip drew into a hostile snarl and he spit down at Pierce. "You filthy motherfucker! Never put your disgusting lips on her again!" He began to laugh manically, his hand reaching to his belt to grab the hatchet.

I saw a thin smirk curl on Pierce's lips, and in a split second, he grabbed Axton's ankle and brought him to the ground. Pierce jumped up rather quickly, despite of his bruised jaw, which he cradled with a hand. Axton cursed and swiped his arm violently along the ground, lifting up a cloud of dust.

"Not so tough now, eh pretty boy?" Pierce taunted, letting out a light chuckle. Uh oh. Big mistake. Axton's eyes shot wide open, a glint of rage shining through his green irises. With a huge heave of force, Axton stood up and charged at Pierce, bringing him down with one arm.

"What did you call me?" Axton spat, a grin forming. Then he began to laugh demonically, the most delirious sound I've ever heard. He was becoming crazy- a psycho. Pierce placed his left hand on Axton's chest. As his tattoos illuminated into the bright light blue, his phasebolt pushed Axton back at least a couple feet.

The front of the enraged Commando's leather jacket sizzled with electric power, but he didn't seem one bit affected. Axton brought out his hatchet and raised it above his head, running right at Pierce.

Pierce ducked under to avoid a fatal chop from the small, one-handed axe. "You're jealously is really overwhelming you, bro." Pierce managed to say in between dodges.

"Jealously?! What the fuck are you talking about?!" Axton yelled, throwing down his collapsible turret. It sprung up into the deadly, lead-spewing weaponry that he admired so much.

"Oh shit…" Pierce muttered as he leaped behind the buggy for cover. The turret tore up the buggy with millions of bullets. Glass shattered, metal was punctured, and the rubber wheels sighed as air was forced out of them.

"YEAH BABY!" Axton cheered. "TEAR THAT BASTARD UP!"

I couldn't believe it. That douchebag was using his stupid turret to try and kill Pierce. Like Pierce would be dumb or clumsy enough to walk in front of that contraption's crosshairs. And better yet, it was destroying our only form of transportation around here!

As Pierce tried to aim multiple bolts of electricity at the turret, I silently crawled over to where Axton stood. He didn't even notice me until I stood up next to him.

"Oh, hey babe," he said flirtatiously, smirking and raising an eyebrow. "How y-" He fell silent as I punched him straight in the jaw, hard. He slumped to ground, and I caught his body. I'm pretty sure I didn't break his jaw or seriously hurt him, because I would've heard the crack of bone. Which is not the most pleasant sound ever…

"I'm sorry…" I whispered to his unconscious body. I slowly began to drag him to the tent, but he was so heavy. The turret stopped shooting and morphed back to box form. I guess it only works when Axton is… um, awake and conscious.

Pierce ran over to my side, and looked down at Axton, a small grin forming. "Oh, don't do that…" I said, meaning his happy face.

"What? That maniac tried to kill me. He probably would've done the same for you… maybe. So, how'd you do that?"

"Do what?" I asked, brushing a strand of Axton's hair off of his forehead.

"Knocked him out with a single punch? Man, that was badass as hell…"

I smiled. "Thanks, and I don't know. All I did was looked him straight dead in the eye, and punched him with all my strength. It was for his own good. I couldn't bare to watch his madness much longer…" Pierce kneeled next to me and placed a hand on my shoulder, comforting me.

"I thank you for that. If it weren't for you, his insanity would've killed me. Literally."

I laughed as I went to pick up Axton's arms. "Uh, do mind lending me a hand?"

"Oh! Absolutely," Pierce walked over to the other end of Axton, picking up his legs. We carried the unconscious man into the nearby tent, placing him gently on his back on the sleeping bag covers. Pierce slumped to the ground with a heaving sigh, crossing his legs in a sitting position.

"Ugh, I'm tired as hell…" he groaned, passing a hand over his dirty, sweaty face.

I smirked and tossed him a towel which he caught effortlessly. As he wiped clean his face, I reached into Axton's pack and found an ice bag, which was surprisingly still frozen and cold.

"Does your jaw still hurt?" I asked Pierce.

He gestured a hand in a so-so motion, while rubbing his jaw with the other. "Eh, it still kind of hurts…"

I handed him the ice bag, which he happily accepted and pressed onto his bruised jaw. "Ahh, that feels good…" he sighed, while starting to stand up back on his feet. As he made his way out of the tent, I called out to him in confusion.

"Wait, where are you going?"

Pierce cranked his head around to look at me, a thin smile resting upon his lips. "I'm pretty whipped. Gonna go get some rest outside."

"You sure you don't wanna sleep in here tonight?" I asked. "I mean, Axton's way knocked out. He won't know a thing."

Pierce laughed, a short and cute sound. "Good point. But I prefer sleeping outside… if you don't mind."

I nodded and grinned. "Alright… be safe out there. Goodnight."

He lifted the front tent panel and slid half of his body out, while sticking his head out to look at me. "Yeah, don't worry. 'night." As he slipped outside and securely zipped the cover up, I turned my attention back to the knocked-out Axton.

"Oh, Ax…" I whispered while looking down at him, playing with a strand of his hair. "What am I ever gonna with you?" I grabbed a sleeping bag and laid it next to Axton. As I slipped into it and pulled the plastic covers over me, I continued to stare at Axton.

I smiled as a steady chorus of soft snores began slowly pouring out of him. My eyes still remained locked on him, even when they closed and I fell into slumber.

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**Hope you liked this very short segment!**

**I also have a quick and random question for all of my readers: Should I get Tomb Raider or Bioshock: Infinite? (I can't get both, for money and parental reasons...) I really need feedback and/or advice! These two games look sooo awesome, but I can't choose! Help!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Okay, so first of all, I have a big announcement. Thanks to my good friend, LurkingT (He gave me great advice and helped get rid of my writer's block), I have decided to change up things in this fanfic. Going along with Borderlands 2's usual storyline bores me, so I'm going to be creative and use my imagination! (No, seriously. That's what Fanfictions are meant to be)**

**So continuing now until the end, there will be a huge plot change! I won't give out any details or spoilers, and you'll just have to read on and find out what the new plot is (or just read the new story summary)**

**So I hope you enjoy the new plot! :)**

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Axton's eyes shot open and he sat up hastily, breathing rather vigorously. His eyes swerved around in paranoia, sweat beginning to bead on his forehead. I looked at him and placed a hand gently on his shoulder. He turned to stare at me with wide, terrified eyes.

"Wh-what happened?" he asked, voice trembling slightly.

"Ax, calm down. Everything's okay," I reassured him.

He looked at me hesitantly, and then I saw his shoulders finally slump down in relief. He rubbed a calloused hand over his sweaty face, and shook his head around. Disheveled hair freely whipped around, finally drooping down his sleek forehead.

I giggled as I reached out to brush it to the side.

Axton smirked, showing that usual charming, boyish look. "Ha, thanks." His grin faded and he hissed in slight pain, massaging his bruised cheek. "Dammit, why does my face hurt?"

I looked at him with guilty eyes, and sucked in a quick breath. "Oh yeah, about that… So here's what happened: Last night you went crazy and tried to kill Pierce…"

"Um, why exactly?" he asked.

"Well, he and I kissed," I saw Axton straightened up and purse his lips, a glint of anger flashing in his eyes. "-and you got jealous and went ape shit on Pierce. So I knocked you out,"

Axton looked at me, this time his eyes were not aggressive, instead were full of awe. "Seriously? How?"

I nodded while tucking a strand of my hair behind an ear. "I practically just punched you in the face… really hard,"

"Wow…" he grinned widely at me. "I'd have to say, that's impressive."

"So, you're not mad at me?" I asked.

"Mad? Ha! Not at all." He gave me two thumbs up.

Suddenly the front flap of the tent unzipped open, and Pierce's head popped in. His sleek black hair was brushed to one side, and the silver stripe down the middle seemed to glow underneath the radiant sunlight. How did he get his hair to look so perfect now? If only he could teach Axton how to style his hair like that.

"Hey guys, you awake?"

"Obviously," Axton grumbled, while sitting up and brushing down his ruffled clothes.

I scoffed at Axton, and beamed at Pierce. "Yeah, we're up,"

"Good. Cause we should be hitting the road soon," he said, and his head disappeared outside the tent.

I began gathering my gear in the tent and rolling up the sleeping bag. "Hey, I'm gonna go outside to get my stuff situated," I told Axton.

"Alright, but don't you be putting on make-up behind my back, darlin'." He said, clicking his tongue in an accusing manner.

"What? No, no I would never do that," I rolled my eyes and crawled to the opening, secreting slipping a small container of foundation, mascara, and lipstick into my pocket. Shhh….

As I stepped outside, the sudden, intense rays of sunlight assaulted my vision. I squinted and breathed in a breath of fresh air. As I searched through my pack and gear to make sure I had everything, I spotted my ECHO log which was surprisingly not tucked safely in my pocket.

I picked it up and randomly started searching through it. I haven't really used it ever since I first stepped foot on Pandora. As I looked through the ECHO, a small icon labeled "_Origin" _caught my attention. I have never seen it before, where did it come from?

Without thinking much about it, I tapped on it. A second page popped up, with two slides on separate bars. One said "_ECHO Log #1" _and the second said "_ECHO Log #2"._ I tapped the first one, and a voice clip started playing. I listened intently:

_Brother Harkon: Why have you brought your… infant to our monastery?_

_Dante: Brother, our daughter is in fact a Siren._

_Brother Harkon: A Siren? Do my ears deceive me? Remarkable! Now, may I see her closely?_

_Elizabeth: Yes, Brother._

_*Baby giggles and sounds*_

_Brother Harkon: Aw, yes. Such a spirited and lively one, she is. What do you wish for the Order to do with her?_

_Dante: Train her, teach her, raise her to be a fighter and guardian._

_Brother Harkon: Hmm, we… shall do as you wish. Now tell me, why have you turned to us?_

_Dante: Since she may be a Siren, she is in danger of being killed or hunted._

_Brother Harkon: Killed or hunted? By what kind of madness?_

_Dante: Hostile outsiders from other planets or galaxies. There are only six Sirens at a time in the universe, after all._

_Brother Harkon: I suppose you are correct. Okay. We shall train and raise your Siren daughter. Now, hand her over. She will be in safe hands._

_Elizabeth: *Sobbing* Be good, my sweet angel. Daddy and I will always love you, forever._

_Brother Harkon: Now, before we take her to the nursery, what is her name?_

_Dante: Maya._

The ECHO Log ended with a static wave, leaving me gaping down at it. _What the hell…_ So I really did have parents, huh? To be honest, I thought I never did have parents, mostly because they dropped me off at the Order when I was barely one year old.

My eyes began to blur up with tears, and I swiped a hand furiously over them. _Fuck…_ I whipped my head to one side, sending the azure locks flying out of my face. I stared back down at my ECHO Log, and reluctantly pressed the second ECHO labeling, "_ECHO Log #2"_

_Dante: When you finally hear this, Maya, you are probably a fierce young woman. Or maybe even a wild and rebellious teenager… *Light chuckling* Listen Maya, your mother and I decided to leave you with the Order for your own safely. Training with the most proficient and powerful Monk Order on Athenas should harden you into a more dangerous Siren. Not that we want you to become a ruthless murderer, never, we just want you to be strong enough to take down anyone that intends to harm you. _

_Elizabeth: Maya, don't you dare let anyone try and hurt you in any way, you hear me? And if any man tries to touch you, oh boy, I give you permission to incinerate his balls off._

_Dante: *Clears throat loudly* Elizabeth…_

_Elizabeth: Oh sorry, honey…_

_Dante: Continuing on… Maya, we just want you to know that you were never abandoned. We love you dearly, more than life itself, it's just we can't bare to raise you ourselves. We're not like you. You have powers unlike any other. We're hoping the Order treats you fairly, and trains you as what you are supposed to be. A warrior. Now, we must be heading off now. If you wish to see us, and we would be more than happy to see you as well, we will still be residing on Athenas. We love you very much. You will always be our baby girl, Maya._

_*Sounds of explosions and breaking glass*_

_Dante: Shit! Elizabeth, get behind me, now! You want a piece of me, motherfu-_

The second ECHO Log ends with yet another static wave. "NO!" I screamed at the small device, throwing it down to the ground. I scurry away on my hands and knees, succumbing to a saddened position with me hugging my legs closely to my chest.

"Maya?!" Pierce runs to where I sat, sobbing. He hurried to my side and stared me with slate eyes full of worry. "What's wrong?" As he questioned me, Axton bustled out of the tent, struggling to zip up his rugged, brown leather jacket.

Axton ran to where Pierce and I were, crouching on the opposite side of me. "What the hell's going on?" he asked, glancing from me to Pierce.

I pointed weakly to the abandoned ECHO on the dusty ground. "Listen to the icon that says, _"Origin"_. Both tapes."

Pierce scooped the device up and Axton walked to his side, looking over his shoulder as Pierce tapped the ECHO Log. After listening to the recordings for a couple minutes, both men looked at me with wide eyes.

"Oh my God…" Axton murmured, as he stared at me. "I don't want your mom to incinerate my balls off!"

Pierce glared at him with disgust, and lightly punched him in the arm. "Maya, those were your parents, right?"

I slowly nodded, sniffing as more tears began to pool in my eyes. Axton crouched to eye-level with me, and laid a hand on my shoulder, comfortingly. "Look, I'm sorry… What are you gonna do?"

I was silent for a moment, pondering intently. After that, I quickly jumped to my feet. Axton and Pierce both were shocked at first, stepping back at least one footstep, than relaxing.

"You know what I'm going to do? I'm heading to Athenas."

Axton and Pierce both stared at me shockingly. It was Axton that spoke up first. "But… I thought we were going to kill that son-of-a-bitch, Jack,"

Pierce nodded in agreement and looked at me intensely.

"Look," I splayed out my hands in front of me. "I could care less about Jack, I'm being serious. I mean sure, I'm pissed at him for nearly killing us, but I _need_ to find my parents."

"You're insane…" Axton looked at me, somewhat showing distraught. "Our main goal, Maya,_ main goal,_ was to take down Jack. I mean yeah, until this douchebag of a Siren-." He gestured to Pierce, who huffed out a breath of annoyance and glared at him. "-came along and delayed us from doing so," Axton looked at Pierce, grinning in a friendly manner. Pierce didn't look one lick amused.

"Axton," I walked up to him, taking his hands and looking deeply into his twinkling, green eyes. "I don't care anymore about Jack. Ever since I listened to that ECHO, I know my parents are out there, possibly still alive. Pray to God that they are. I sense that they're in trouble. I must find them, and I need your help,"

I looked at Pierce to the side. "You too, Pierce."

Axton casted his gaze downwards and sighed. "Oh how I always wanted to splatter Jack's brains from my shotgun… But, okay Maya, you got me. I'll go along with you."

I squealed with delight and gave him a fierce yet quick hug. I glanced toward Pierce who kept silent. "Pierce," I came closer to him. "What do you say?"

"Well Maya, you're risking your own life here. Who knows what dangers could be lurking that "peaceful wonderland" of your planet." He said, truthfulness glinting in his bluish-gray eyes.

"Pierce, I really don't give a fuck about what 'dangers' are wandering Athenas. Axton and I are going there, with or without you." I whipped around and shoved all of my gear into a small backpack, slinging it over my shoulder.

I called for Axton to follow. He nodded quickly, strapping the shotgun he was holding on his back, and walking after me. As we approached the bandit technical vehicle that Pierce miraculously managed to fix, I felt a heavy hand weigh down on my bare shoulder.

I spun around to meet the Siren's slate eyes.

"Alright, I'll come with you. But I call shotgun on the flight there,"

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**Lol, Pierce you funny man. :P I hope you liked this chapter, and maybe you'll love the new plot even more! *Crosses fingers* Please review and tell me what you think. Also don't forget to drop a favorite or follow on this fanfic! :D**

**Oh, and for the question I asked at the end of the previous chapter, I have my eye definitely on BioShock Infinite ^_^ Sooo who wants to give me $60? Lol, I'm kidding :)**


	10. Chapter 10

**Hello once again, my amazing readers! How's life doing for ya'll? I was unable to write in the past couple days because of a sudden stomach virus... It was terrible... Diarrhea is not fun at all... Okay, you didn't need to know that. Haha sorry :P Anyways, I hope you guys enjoy this chapter. Now this is where my plot change kicks in... You'll see...**

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The wind flowed through my azure locks, as the bandit technical vehicle sped through the rolling, sandy hills. Pierce had taken control of the control of the wheel, driving with precise skill, while Axton sat in the back seat. The commando was fixated on his one too many guns, delicately polishing them, while reloading cartridges and shells.

I tinkered with my ECHO, watching the moving lines spike up and down in static electricity. The soft humming of the car's engine and the wind rushing in the ears calmed my nerves. Recently, I listened for the first time to my parent's recording on my ECHO. I learned that I actually do have parents. Well duh, _everyone_ has parents, but I've never met them before.

Since I was barely even a year old, I was barricaded in that dumb monastery of the Order of the Impending Storm, back on my home planet of Athenas. My parents were in trouble, according to the ECHO, and the whole planet is probably in grave danger also. I need to get there; I need to find my parents…

The sudden, husky voice of Pierce interrupted my thoughts. "So, how exactly do we get to Athenas?"

I chuckled softly, looking at him with the most sarcastic grin. "Well, by rocket ship, obviously. How else do you expect we'd get there?"

He shrugged, still keeping vigilant eyes on the pathway ahead. "I knew that. It's just, where do we find one?"

I pondered for a moment. I didn't even think about that. "Hmm…" I thought quickly, trying to come up with an idea, but then something far ahead caught my attention. I squinted and realized it one of the Hyperion established bases. But what really interested me was the tall, shadowed spacecraft, towering over the entire base.

"Holy fuck…" I whispered, staring in astonishment at the large spacecraft.

"What is it, Maya?" Pierce asked, managing to look at me to his side.

All I could do what point ahead and the other two followed my finger. I heard Pierce softly gasp, and Axton curse in amazement.

"Well, lookee there," Axton murmured. "What a coincidence."

"I'll say. Pierce, stop right up there," I commanded him toward a large boulder. He obeyed with no questions, and parked the car behind the large rock, hiding it from any Hyperion's prying gaze. I jumped out, grabbing my gear and all of my guns. I slung both the shotgun and sniper rifle onto my back, and clutched the corrosive SMG with my shaky hands.

Pierce and Axton both did the same, arming themselves with their most deadly firearms.

"Okay. What's the plan, ma'am?" Axton said in a polite tone, giving me a small salute, and then winking.

"We are going to infiltrate the base. Killing any Hyperion soul, or robot, that occupies the area. There may be only three of us, but we are definitely stronger than they are."

"You're damn right," Pierce said, resting his shotgun on a shoulder.

"Got it guys?" I asked again, and once they both nodded, I started to run toward the base. "Come on, then! Follow me."

I traded the SMG for my sniper rifle, and aimed with the scope. I immediately took down two Hyperion guards from aloft the base, watching their lifeless bodies hit the ground below in a bloody mess. A stream of bullets began blazing our way, and I dodged them like they were nothing.

Throwing a grenade into a crowd of soldiers and an Engineer, I watched them shriek in pain as the explosion blew their limbs and heads off. Axton ran ahead of me, taking down an unlucky Engineer who got too close, by stabbing the bayonet on his rifle through the Engineer's chest.

Comets of dazzling fire and force plummeted down, crashing only a couple feet away, causing me to gasp in horror. Then, multiple Loaders appeared, opening fire on us. An EXP Loader spotted me and began streaking toward me, but I quickly Phaselocked it, then blew it to bits.

I made it to the entrance of the base and turned to look for Axton and Pierce. Both of them were busying themselves fighting the Hyperion onslaught. I spotted Axton throwing down his beloved turret, while he continued to spew rapid streams of bullets at oncoming enemies. He whooped in delight as the turret took down a Badass War Loader that was about to unleash its fury upon all three of us.

Pierce sped around the battlefield with the agility and reflexes of a cat. He slid underneath and in between the legs of a Loader, and immediately pumped the scattered bullets of his shotgun into the robot's back. A small group of three or four EXP Loaders targeted Pierce and began running toward him, beeping robotic commands to each other. I noticed Pierce was completely unaware of it, and my stomach suddenly felt like a ball of pure ice was dropped into it.

A gurgled scream got caught in the throat, but Pierce did a swift somersault and while he was in mid-air, his lace of blue swirling tattoos illuminated brightly. A surge of blue lightning bolts outstretched from his fingertips, and hit the impending suicidal robots with a deafening blast.

All of the Loaders were annihilated on direct impact and thick wisps of smoke began to float off their charred, metallic bodies.

"Hey! Guys!" I called over the explosive chaos and excessive screams of Hyperion soldiers.

Axton and Pierce's head turned to look at me and they both bolted to my side. I sprinted off, with the two men running along on both sides of me. We came in contact with more waves of Hyperion soldiers and Loaders, but as badass as we were, we took them down without breaking a sweat.

As we approached the towering spacecraft, I gazed up in amazement, a silent "_Wow…"_ leaving my lips.

"Okay," I said. "I'm gonna check inside and see if it's working. You guys don't mind if you stand guard here?"

"Not at all, sweetheart," Axton stretched his broad shoulders and flexed his arms, trigger-ready for any danger. Pierce rolled his eyes and gave a respectful nod toward me. I whipped around and ascended up the metal staircase toward the rocket.

I was about to switch the controls to open the entrance door, but then a spine-chilling, soft chuckle sounded behind me. I could faintly hear Axton and Pierce gasp then curse in distress, the click of their weapons breaking the silence. I slowly turned around to see the Hyperion CEO himself standing there, his arms crossed and a devilish grin plastered on his fake face.

"Well, well," he began, his voice hinting at sarcasm and humor. "-if it isn't the little vault hunters. What'cha doing at my Hyperion base, eh?"

"We're getting the hell outta here, you slimy bastard!" Axton spat. Pierce glared at Jack with choleric eyes, his shotgun resting up his shoulder, but a finger still eagerly on the trigger.

"Is that so? Well, looking at the little girl over there about to climb into my rocket," he smiled and winked at me. I glared in disgust at him and was about to Phaselock him to pieces, but I calmly restrained myself. "-it looks like ya'll are going to take a trip somewhere, particularly another planet, am I right?"

"No shit, dumbass." Axton growled. Jack looked at him with a blue and green eye, both full of pity.

"I feel sorry for you, bandit," He walked up to Axton, who straightened up and backed away, aiming his rifle at Jack. "You're vocabulary is not that great, so you use nothing but curses and vulgar language to get your anger out. Tsk tsk. What a pity."

Axton snarled and lunged at Jack, letting out a deep cry. Jack swiftly moved to the side and watched in amusement as the Commando fell on his face, onto the muddy ground. I gasped softy, raising a hand over my mouth. Pierce stiffened and leaped to Axton's side, giving him a hand up.

Axton stood up, grunting in a bellicose manner. His green eyes blazed with red anger toward Jack, and he swiped a hand over his muddy face.

Jack chuckled again and snapped his fingers. Almost immediately, a mini army of Hyperion soldiers, Engineers, and various Loaders, came out of the nearby buildings.

"You bandits really think you're gonna leave this planet alive, eh? We didn't even get to know each other that well! Such a shame." Jack took out a pistol from inside his jacket. "Let's get this party started."

With a single command, all of the Hyperion units began firing right away. Axton and Pierce jumped out of sight and behind a large metal crate. I managed to slither out of their crosshairs and behind the metal gate on the rocket.

"Maya!" I recognized Axton calling out my name.

"Axton?! What is it?!" I called out, trying my best to crouch low enough to avoid the bullets.

"I want you and Pierce to get inside the rocket! I'll hold them off for now!" A mental scream passed through my head. That's complete suicide to Axton! I was about to jump up and protest to him, but a hand laid on my shoulder. I quickly looked to my side, quite frightened. I stared into those grey-bluish eyes, reassured that it was only just Pierce.

"Come on, Maya! We got to get inside the spacecraft!" He possessed ahold of my arm and we began crawling toward the door.

"But…w-what about Axton?" I stuttered, tears pricking at my eyes.

"He'll be fine, trust me! He's got everything under control," Pierce slammed the red button on the control panel and the entrance door slid opened. He happily allowed me to get inside first. Well, isn't his chivalry quite impressive? As I crawled into the rocket, a frustrated voice shouted behind us.

"Oh no, you don't!" My head instinctively cranked around to see Jack running toward us.

"Go, Maya!" Pierce shoved my whole body into the spacecraft and he courageously confronted the Hyperion menace. I watched in horror as Jack jumped at Pierce, the bayonet on his pistol slicing through the Siren's arm.

"Pierce!" I screamed, as he shrieked in pain and collapsed to his knees. I saw the blood spilling down his arm, and he struggled to clutch it with a hand, but the crimson still gushed between his fingers. I leaped out of the rocket and Phaselocked Jack, putting in all of my power and strength to keep him suspended in mid-air for as long as possible.

I helped Pierce up, putting an arm comfortably around his shoulders and the other on his stomach.

"Don't worry, we'll get that wound patched up," I whispered.

"It hurts like hell…" he gritted his teeth and sucked in a breath of pain. I lead him into the rocket and sat him gently on one of the padded, cushioned seats. As I placed him comfortably in the hidden cover, I stepped back outside. My body instinctively dropped down as more streams of lead was fired my way. I peeked through a hole in the metal crate and saw Axton struggling to take on the oncoming swarm of Hyperion enemies.

My gaze whipped to Jack, who was sneakily approaching Axton from behind. He clutched a long machete-like weapon in a hand and had it aimed toward the commando's unarmed back. Jack already wounded a person held deeply to me. He will not dare set a filthy paw on the man I secretly loved the most.

I rolled out of cover and launched a grenade into a small group of Hyperion soldiers and loaders. They flew into the air in a cloud of flames and debris. As Jack was about to strike Axton, I suddenly screamed, "AXTON!" He instantly jerked around and luckily caught Jack's machete in his own rifle's bayonet.

"Son-of-a-bitch!" Jack snarled, as Axton quickly deflected his blow. Metal clashed against metal as the two men fought viciously, a cloud of dust getting kicked up by their shuffling feet. I looked over the horizon to see a large flying craft, with the Hyperion symbol imprinted clearly on the side, soar into view. I spotted an enormous amount of Hyperion reinforcements jumping down from the ship.

"Axton!" I yelled for the grizzled commando. "We gotta go, NOW!"

"Busy!" He shouted back. A painful grunt suddenly escaped his lips as he was knocked to the ground by Jack's fist.

"Not so tough now are ya, soldier-boy?" Jack spat, grabbing Axton by his neck.

I quickly Phaselocked Jack and watched as he was hoisted into the air once again. Axton fell to his hands and knees, sucking in huge breaths of air. I ran down to his side and helped him up. As I guided him to the rocket, I managed to say, "We…have to get….off this planet…." Wow, Axton was heavier than I thought.

We both got to into the rocket and I sat Axton on one of the cushioned seats. Pierce was on his feet, still holding in the blood pouring from his arm.

"Pierce! Get in a seat!" I frantically said, while rushing to the main controls of the spacecraft. He quickly found a seat beside the pilot seat and strapped himself in. I got into the pilot seat and began pressing and lifting the igniting buttons.

The rocket let out a loud roar as the engine burst to life. A couple shakes and spasms later, and the rocket was blasting off into the sky. I grabbed ahold of the steering device with adroit precision and gently directed us out of Pandora's atmosphere.

I looked back to see Axton peering out of the rear window. He pumped his fist in the air while weakly, yet excitedly saying, "Fuck yeah!" Though, he collapsed back on the cushion and clutched at his neck, pain smearing his face. I switched the rocket to auto-pilot and stood up, snatching a white medical box from aloft.

"So…how long exactly does it take to get from Pandora to Athenas?" Pierce asked.

I pursed my lips. "Hmm, well, since both are neighboring planets, it shouldn't take too terribly long. But when I traveled from there to here, it took a mere two months,"

Pierce looked at me with wide eyes and sighed. "Two months? What are we gonna do for that long?"

"Well, you and Ax have to recover. Jack gave you a pretty bad slash in the arm, and Axton-." I looked over at the Commando who was completely dazed out. "-well, he isn't too wounded, but he'll need some rest and maybe a heat pad."

Pierce smirked and watched as I searched through the first-aid kit. "Hey, Maya, thanks for everything."

I looked at him and smiled. "No problem,"

_Goodbye Pandora. Hello Athenas._

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**Review, favorite, follow, do whatever to make me a happy girl! Especially review. I'm seriously like six reviews away from a hundred. Come on, people! Review! ARGHHH! **_  
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	11. Chapter 11

**Haiii, sorry for the long wait... Haha yeah, I've been busy...and lazy. Can't help myself with that. So heads up, this chapter starts out all fluffy or romantic (Sorry, it's pathetic, I know) then it gradually gets darker. Muhahaha :D**

**Anyways, enjoy the chapter!**

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_Two months later…_

"Axton, wakey wakey…" I gently shook the sleeping Commando who briefly stirred, grumbling lowly to himself. I giggled and tapped his nose softly. Magically, his eyes immediately shot open and he gazed at me with two sparkling green orbs. He gave me a boyish crooked grin.

"Well, aren't ya a sight I loved to wake up to every morning," he murmured, his voice rumbling with deepness and maybe a tad bit of sexiness.

I felt my cheeks overlap with heat and I could imagine the crimson enveloping my pale skin. "You're quite a charmer, aren't you?"

"I try to make the most beautiful girl I've ever laid eyes on-." He stared at me with delicate, steady eyes and winked. "-feel the absolute best…all the time." I covered my mouth with a hand and restrained from attacking him with kisses. It's weird; I've known him this long and still haven't kissed him yet. It shatters my heart to know that I have already kissed Pierce, when it was meant for Axton…

I shook my head of any distracting thoughts and smiled down at Axton. A soft beeping sounded from the control panel of the rocket and I walked over to check it out.

"What is it?" Axton said, slowly sitting up from his bed and running a hand through his disheveled hair.

"Ah-ha! Looks like we'll be entering Athenas's atmosphere in less than twenty minutes," I reported.

"Hmm, looks like I better freshen up," he stood up and headed for the restroom. Just as he left the room, Pierce walked in. The Siren looked calm and laid-back; while wearing a solid grey tank top, black cargo pants, and black combat boots. Sometime ago, while we were halfway through this ride, Pierce shaved his head to make getting ready much easier and quicker.

Now, a month later, some hair has grown back and it's barely long enough to be spiked up.

Pierce grinned at me and walked closer, hands in pockets. "How's things going, Maya?"

"Pretty smoothly, we'll be arriving in Athenas's atmosphere in less than twenty minutes." I said, keeping my eyes glued to the rocket's monitors and controls.

"Great. It's been a _long _two months…" he stretched and rubbed his back, bending forward a bit.

"_Entering atmosphere." _A male robotic voice sounded.

"You might wanna take a seat and buckle in. It's a bumpy ride through the atmosphere." I did so and watched as he did the same.

"Where's pretty boy?" Pierce chuckled, referring to Axton.

"He's in the bathroom, probably prepping up his hair. He'll be fine, the restroom's pretty small and so he won't move around a lot," I smiled and stared out the front view window. The rocket began accelerating towards Athenas. The planet was beautiful…as usual. The multi-colored surface and swirling turquoise bands always looked so peaceful.

We quickly entered the atmosphere and the rocket started to jolt and shake. I heard a distraught yelp from behind and heard Axton stumbling in the room.

"Ah! We're being attacked!"

"Ax, calm yo tits. We're going through Athenas's atmosphere," Pierce joked, snickering.

I felt the feeling of Axton glaring towards Pierce and he took a seat somewhere behind me. After a couple more shakes and turns, I looked out of the large, glass window and saw fields of green. As we approached the ground at a fast pace, the ground texture became clearer and I saw an abundance amount of vegetation and greenery poke above the ground.

It seems we were landing atop of some middle of nowhere, due to the lack of houses and buildings. When I lived with the Monks, the monastery was located in complete seclusion with no nearby cities or towns anywhere.

The rocket continued to accelerate toward the ground, and I spotted green rolling hills, the dot of trees here and there, and the faint image of the tall mountain range in the background.

Pierce gasped as he took a peep out the front window. "Wow… it's beautiful…"

I chuckled softly. "That's what you think. But with the Monks in charge, it's a total hell-hole. At least in my point-of-view,"

The rocket signaled that we were well out of the atmosphere, and I took control of the wheel. I slowly guided us down towards the ground. The spacecraft shuttered as its metal feet came in contact with solid ground since two months before. As I flipped switches and pressed buttons, making sure the rocket was securely shut down, Axton and Pierce both jumped up and made their way to the exit door.

I flipped the switch leading to the door gradually opening with a sharp _hiss._

"Well I'll be…" Axton murmured, gazing out over the massive rolling green hills and many tall, snow-capped mountains.

"Yeah…" I responded, walking out of the rocket and listening to the door shutting tightly behind me. "Athenas has many landscapes and scenery. This particular part has mostly rolling hills and plains, with the addition of the mountain range in the background."

"Extraordinary…" Pierce whispered, shielding his eyes from the glaring sun as he looked up at the mountains.

"So…where to now Miss Maya?" Axton asked politely, turning his attention towards me.

I whipped my head around at a full 360 degree angle, observing everything around at full vigilance. Out in the distance, I saw the city of Athenas… except there was something different about it. My eyes narrowed as I looked harder at it, trying to make the image clearer. That's when I noticed the charred, burned buildings and the dark smoke steadily rising above it. More orange flames licked the towers as fires seemed to burst out of them.

My legs immediately carried me swiftly toward the city, leaving my two companions behind. They both cried out in stunned voices, but realized I wanted them to quickly follow me. My feet banged against the soft soil and flowing grass, making them start to oddly bruise with pain.

As I approached the gate entrance to the city, I saw there was no gate anymore. It looked to be shredded apart, despite the indestructible titanium, and stomped to pieces on the ground. I couldn't help but let a muffled scream escape my enclosed throat. The city literally lay in ruins of ashes and broken debris. Bloody bodies and dissembled limbs were strewn all over the ground, and numerous scavengers began to pick at the remains.

I heard the footsteps of Axton and Pierce behind me and stop abruptly. They both let out some kind of distressed sound, including many curses from Axton. He has never been to this planet before, I know that for sure, but I knew he was just showing sympathy for my fellow Athenas civilians and also myself.

"Shit..." Axton muttered. I ignored his profanity-filled mumbles and slowly stepped into the city I once knew. As I stepped over the bodies of people that once worshipped or praised me, I felt utterly terrible. These people either feared me, or praised me with complete joy. Both emotions felt empowering and wonderful.

"Quickly," I turned my gaze to the other two men behind me. "Search for survivors."

"But," Pierce stepped in before I went away. "What's the point? This place is basically burned to the crisp,"

"Just do what I say." I sternly ordered through gritted teeth.

The Siren fearfully nodded and turned away, fading away into one of the nearby standing buildings.

Axton strolled to my side and I could see the flirty grin plastered onto his mouth. "Want some company, darling?"

"Okay, stop." I halted and looked the Commando dead in the eye. "One: I can take care of myself, and two: Don't call me 'darling' please." I whipped around to continue my search without giving him a chance to protest. I know I was hard with him, but I needed to focus on my main objective now.

As I passed by one of the still-standing buildings, I heard the steady, soft crying of perhaps a young child. It sounded like a little girl, definitely. I peered into the buildings open entrance and met with pitch blackness. I unzipped and groped through my pack, finally taking out a flashlight.

I stepped inside, the stench of ash, rotting flesh, and death all mixed into one hitting my nostrils. I cringed and reached up to cover my mouth and nose with a gloved hand. I flipped the switch on the flashlight and swerved the light beam around. That's when I spotted a little girl cowering in the corner, sobbing over the corpse of what used to look like a man.

She was covered in dirty rags, or what almost looked like plain blue jeans and a red jacket, if they weren't covered in so much dirt, blood, and soot. The young girl saw me and covered her face with both hands, crawling as far away as possible.

"Hey… I'm not going to hurt you…" I spoke with the most comforting, gentlest voice that I could ever make. The girl was skeptical and didn't come any closer, but she didn't look as scared or tense anymore. I slowly walked closer to her until I was standing over her. I went down to a crouch position and made sure not to shine the flashlight directly into her eyes.

"What's your name?" I asked sweetly. The girl looked up at me with wide, tear-filled hazel eyes. Her long mocha hair was unkempt and mostly covering part of her face.

"L-Lydia…" The girl softly stuttered.

"Well, Lydia, I'm here to help you. You just have to allow me to do so."

She was silent for a moment then looked up me with confident eyes. Her pupils then widened and she gaped at me. "Y-you're Maya…" I nodded and smiled.

"B-but, I thought you left and were never to return!"

"True, but the reason why I came back… is to find my parents. But… what the hell happened here?"

Lydia immediately lunged forward and grasped me in a fierce hug. I wrapped my arms around the girl's shrivel, small body and placed my chin atop her head. "Oh my god, Maya, it was horrible! _They_ came and completely scavenged this city, killing and infecting everybody!" She broke out into a fit of tears and I rubbed her comfortably, trying to calm her down.

"_They?_ Who's they?" I asked sternly, looking the girl in her bright, hazel eyes.

"The…the monsters… They killed ruthlessly, even infecting and turning some of us into mindless zombies..."

I looked at the man's body a few feet away, who began to rot in the swarm of flies and maggots. "That man…who is he?" I gestured to the corpse.

"My daddy…" she whimpered.

"Oh… I'm so sorry. Did the monsters kill him?"

"Yes… one of them tried to attack me, but daddy fought it off until I was well hidden. When I thought the monster was gone, I came back to see daddy like this…" Lydia stared at the body, tears beginning to stream down her dirtied face.

"Wait… you said the 'monsters' infect their victims sometimes?"

"Yes… why?" As she spoke that, the corpse of who once used to be her father, rose up and cried the most ear-splitting nose ever. Blood poured down his face and an eyeball hung from its socket. It was a gruesome sight, like a bloodied skeleton with barely any meat on its bones.

Lydia screamed and ran behind me, clinging to my legs. In the frightening moment, I dropped the flashlight and now I was blindly searching for my gun, praying the zombie doesn't reach me.

"Maya!" Lydia shrieked, begging me to kill off the nightmare that infested her father. I quickly grabbed ahold of the pistol inside its holster on the side of my thigh. I fired many times until I knew I struck the target. The time I heard the body fall to the creaking floor, I knew it was over.

"Lydia… don't worry. It's dead…" I gripped the tiny girl by the arms and gazed into her eyes. "We have to get out of here before more of those things come to life!"

That's when I heard the screaming from outside start.

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**Ha ha ha. See that cliffhanger? Yeah, I enjoy keeping you all in suspense. **

**Don't forget to leave a review, favorite, or follow. Do all three for all time's sake. (If you haven't already).**

**See you all next time!**


	12. Chapter 12

**Hey there! Sorry again for the long wait... Anyways, just to inform you all, I probably won't update for a week or two because guess what comes out this Tuesday? :D YESSS, BIOSHOCK INFINITE BITCHES! Ahem, sorry...**

**Okay, I will stop fangirling over that game and let all of you peeps read! Enjoy! **

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"What the-?" My head turned quickly towards the sound of the atrocious screaming. It sounded like a harmony; both man and creature shrieking in unison.

"C'mon Lydia!" I grabbed ahold of the little girl and heaved her up into my arms. She was extraordinarily light and I could easily keep her suspended. Lydia wrapped her thin arms around my neck and buried her face into my padded shoulder, clinging onto me rather tightly.

I raced outside toward the spine-chilling screams, supporting Lydia with one arm and gripping my pistol in my free-hand. Outside, all was clear. The bodies of victims from the invasion still lay where I last saw them. The wrecked buildings still stood, charred and looked ready to tumble apart at any moment. Flames and smoke rising from the towers continued to steadily move together.

My heart thudded against my ribcage as my dilated eyes darted everywhere. The screaming erupted once again; this time coming from the nearest building to my right. I raced inside and saw that this place had more light than the previous building I recently came out of.

There I witnessed Axton struggling to fend off a group of the infectious zombies.

"Axton!" I cried, as I used my left arm to phaselock one of the zombies. My Siren powers had become stronger in the past time; therefore, whenever I phaselocked a single being, the gravity pulls others nearby into the swirling 'death ball'.

I watched the other zombies shriek and helplessly claw at the air, as they were pulled into my phaselock's force. I ran to Axton and using my free arm, guided him out of the building.

"Maya… thank God you're safe," he murmured.

"I'll say the same to you… You didn't get bitten or scratched, did you?" I asked, worriedly.

"Not that I know of. Why?"

"Those things… They can infect you to become one of them." I explained.

"I see… Well, I'll make sure not to get near them," Axton spotted the little girl in my arms and smiled brightly. "Well, well, who do we have here? I lost child?"

"Yeah, she's a survivor I found in one of the buildings." Suddenly, the chorus of screams sounded behind us. I placed Lydia quickly on the ground and ordered her to stay with Axton. Then, I grabbed a more precise weapon from my pack, which happened to be a corrosive sub-machine gun.

"Maya! Where are-."

"Stay with Lydia! I can take care of this myself…" I furiously waved off Axton's desperate calls, gritting my teeth in frustration at the same time.

I cautiously crept into the building where the screams echoed out of. Dark shadows concealed most of the room, but I could faintly see the moving figures within them. The glow of illuminated Siren tattoos shown through, and a blue lightning bolt whizzed, coming into contact with a fleshy blob.

"Pierce!" I called into the darkness.

There was no response; instead moments later, Pierce came running up to me. I was caught by surprise, and gasped rather loudly. I looked up into his steel-blue eyes to not see the usual bright shine. Instead, they were dull and hazy with pain. That's when I noticed the long bloody scratch running from above his right eyebrow, all the way to the side of his jaw.

"Pierce…" I whispered, as my eyes skimmed down the scratch. Bright crimson slowly dripped down that side of his face, creating a small pool on the ground. Then, he suddenly collapsed to floor, like his legs were made of wooden stilts that broke under intense pressure.

Luckily, my mind raced ahead and my arms immediately reached out to catch him. He was immensely heavy, but I still managed to keep him in my arms. Out of the darkness, more screams and hideous sounds assaulted my ears. My eyes widened and the adrenaline pumped through my veins even faster when I saw the pack of zombies approaching us.

With one arm still wrapped around Pierce's mid-section, and the other slipping up my back, I grabbed the machine gun. In a quick flick of my finger, a flurry of acid-stained bullets flew through the air. The zombies shrieked in pain as the bullets penetrated them by the hundreds, slowly corroding their rotting, bloody flesh.

As the zombies slowly died a miserable death, I dragged Pierce out of the dank, dark building. Axton and Lydia waited patiently outside, and I saw Lydia sheepishly hiding behind Axton's tall figure, gripping his legs.

"Maya!" Axton ran to me with Lydia tight at his heels. "Oh God…" His eyes trailed down Pierce's unmoving body.

"What happened to him?" he asked, while crouching down to get a better look.

"I don't know…I think he's been infected…" My hands delicately cradled his face, observing the long gash. "See, he's been scratched…"

Tears began to form in my eyes, but I blinked them out. I placed two fingers on the fleshy part of his neck, and felt the slow tap of his heartbeat. "Okay, good. He's alive, just unconsciousness,"

"Well, what are we gonna do?" Axton questioned, worriedly. "He's bound to turn into one of those…things,"

"No! Don't say that… W-we gotta find a cure…" My voice began to crack with each hoarse breath I took. I struggled to come up with ways that could prevent the infection from morphing Pierce into those flesh-eating monsters. That's when my gaze came upon Lydia.

My eyes widened and I slowly stood up back on my own two feet. "Lydia!"

The timid girl's face popped out from behind Axton's legs, her hazel eyes glistening. I walked up to her and dropped onto one knee, gripping her shoulders gently while looking into her eyes.

"Listen…you've been here longer recently than any of us. You've experienced and witnessed those creatures… Do you know of any cures?"

The young girl pondered and was silent for a moment, her eyes glued to the ground. Then afterwards, she slowly shook her head. My heart began beating even faster and the blood roared in my ears. The lump in my throat seemed to grow bigger, preventing me from breathing.

"But…" Lydia spoke up, her soft voice breaking the dead silence around us. "There is one thing that can be done…"

My grip on her shoulders constricted and I stared intensely at her. "What? What is it? Tell me!"

"Okay, just- could you let go of me, please?" she asked kindly, looking innocently up into my face.

"Oh; of course. I apologize." I released my grip on her shoulders and crouched back on my heels.

"The whole creators of the infection are… the _Xeno…_" Lydia began, her eyes trained on her sneakered feet.

"The Xeno?" Axton asked, his brow furrowing. "What the hell is that?"

"They're the alien race that invaded Athenas in the first place. They have created some kind of toxin; when entered into one's blood system, typically a human or animal, the toxin alters their body in a drastic way. They are than transformed into those zombies."

"For a lil' girl, you speak intellectually," Axton commented.

"Shh!" I shook my fist at the talkative Commando. "Let the girl talk!"

"Sheesh, alright…" Axton shrugged his shoulders in defeat and sat down on a nearby pile of debris, pulling out his Dahl rifle and beginning to polish it.

"Okay, sorry 'bout that… Go on," I told Lydia.

"The Xeno are probably the fiercest, most psychotic alien race I have ever seen…" Lydia said, shuddering at the thought.

"Really? What do they look like?"

Instead of answering, Lydia pointed to the right, keeping her eyes shut tight to avoid looking at whatever she was motioning to. My eyes slowly followed her outstretched arm and erect finger; all the way to its target. I nearly jumped up in fright when I spotted the dead corpse a few meters away.

I approached the body with cautious steps, my hand locked into place over my holstered gun. The dead Xeno looked to be very tall, and very huge. From the ground it seemed to be around six or seven feet tall. Its body was incased in a very strong and bulky looking armor. The armor was milky silver with splatters of red and black color all over the arms, legs, and torso. I wasn't even sure if the red was blood or not…

It appeared the creature wore a helmet to complete its armory, but it was split open, revealing the Xeno's terrifying face. It didn't look human at all; instead it was reptile-looking thing with odd feline features. Its skin was a forest green with hardened scales, and its wide open, deadened eyes were a deep red with slits for pupils.

The armor was particularly interesting… It had dozens of steel plates all over the body that looked impermeable. Not to mention the bandolier sashed across its chest and the belt around the waist that carried gear from ammo rounds and explosives, to health and vigors.

A strange mechanism around both of its forearms caught my attention. I bent down at a safe distance to examine it. It looked to be twin blades inside a steel gloved-gauntlet that appeared to be retractable.

"Fascinating…" I murmured.

"What's up?" I recognized Axton and heard his heavy steps walking this way. Then he stopped, probably shocked by the dead Xeno. "What the fuck…is that?!" he exclaimed, jogging up to my side.

"Apparently a Xeno…" I said.

"It looks fucking invincible…" He stared at the armor and the deadly bladed contraption on its forearms. He reached over to either prod or grab something off of it, but I quickly smacked his hand away.

"What the hell are you doing?! Don't touch it! You might get contaminated or infected…" I looked at him with worried eyes.

His hand immediately retracted, but a smirk began to grow on his lips. "Aww, worried about me, darlin'?"

I groaned and stood up, brushing the dust off my pants. "Shut up…" I turned around and went back up to Lydia, who was standing patiently away from the dead Xeno.

"Hey," I shrunk back down to eye-level with the little girl. "Tell me; what are some cures for my friend, Pierce?"

"Well, you could mix together an antidote, but nobody around knows the recipe…" she said quietly.

"Shit…" I cursed under my breath, making sure it wasn't loud enough to assault the girl's innocent ears. "Are you sure? Anything else?"

"There's also one other thing…" Lydia looked up into my eyes. "You could kill the Queen…"

"Queen? The hell…" I averted my gaze for a moment, glancing around the devastated city.

"Yeah, she's the one that practically commands and controls the whole Xeno army. She's also the one that created the infection." Lydia informed.

"Does this 'Queen' have a name?" I asked.

"I believe it's Cassandra…"

I shuddered at the mention of that name. Even though I've never met this Cassandra chick, I still had chills due to her name.

"What's quite ironic is that while the Xeno are ugly lizard creatures, Cassandra looks very human. She's actually really beautiful; almost a goddess, like you…" Lydia said.

I smiled and gently took ahold of the girl's thin, delicate arms. "Oh Lydia, I appreciate that, but I'm not a goddess. Not at all. The Monk's just said that because I had these special yet deadly powers,"

Axton came over and stood beside me, resting his shotgun over a shoulder. "What's going on?"

I straightened up from my crouch and tilted my head to look at him, my hand on a hip. "There happens to be a Queen of the Xeno army. Her name's Cassandra…"

The Commando seemed to have a straight face on, though a hint of anger appeared. "Alright. Where's this bitch so we can blow her damn head off?"

"Not so fast, Axton!" Lydia called out. "You can't simply just kill Cassandra. She has the power to bring hoards of Xeno to her side, or just kill you herself…"

"Seriously?" Axton huffed, his brow deepening in disappointed. "Fine. Whatcha got in mind?"

"Well, first, we have to find a cure for Pierce… Oh yeah, how long does it take for the infection to completely take over?" I looked at Lydia to my side.

"Hmm, it depends. Looking at the shape Pierce is in, probably a couple days. Maybe less…" Lydia informed, her hazel eyes shifting from Pierce's unconscious body to me.

"Okay then. Let's go!" Axton lifted his gun in the air and began walking down the slope descending out of the city.

"Axton! Wait!" I yelled to him, and focused back on Lydia. "Okay, what's the cure?"

"Well, just as Axton said," Lydia stared at me with beady, gleaming eyes. "You have to kill Cassandra, which will immediately break the infection on any living thing currently infected. But…"

"Yes?"

"-you gotta make a sacrifice as well…"

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**Oooh, yes... A new villain, and she's a Queen! A beautiful yet killer Queen! I'm not sure what Cassandra will look like yet, but I imagine her kind of looking like Queen Myrrah (Gears of War)**

**And also the armor that the Xeno wear are very much similar to a Halo Spartan's and/or Master Chief's... YES, so. much. references!**

**Soooo, I'll see ya'll in a week or two (P.S. if you're friends with me on Xbox live, please don't disturb me starting this Tuesday!) And if you aren't friends with me and want to be, my gamertag is on my profile. But don't bother me, or you'll regret it...**

**See ya next time! Don't forget to leave a review! I love your feedback. :D**


	13. Chapter 13

**And I'm back! Hello there! Oh my God, it's been so long... I apologize tremendously for not updating in, what? Like 2 months? Seems about right... I've had school (shocker), homework and projects (shocker), and other first-world problems. Thankfully school for me ends in 2 weeks (it ends June 7th, which is also my birthday! Yayy) And I'm officially a sophomore afterwards! But then I have 3 more years of high school before I am a senior and graduate... :/ Oh well...**

**Anyways, I'm giving you guys a little surprise this chapter... How about a nice tall glass of lemonade?! LOL, yes, this is indeed a lemony chapter... I warn all of you youngsters reading (if there are any; like under the age of...12 or 11, I guess) to STOP reading and go do something else with your life! P.S. I'm not the best at writing sex scenes so bare with me...**

**Okay, that's it from me. Have fun reading, ya'll! :)**

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"A… sacrifice?" I nearly choked on those very words. My eyes grew wide and teary with the thought of one of my own comrades, or even myself, as being a sacrifice. I noticed Axton had stopped jogging away, and moved back to my side.

"Whoa… did she say what I just thought she said?" he asked, his green eyes having a glaze of seriousness in them.

"Yes, I did," Lydia said. "Unfortunately, one of you, or perhaps even me, will die…"

"Even you?" I shockingly asked her. "But you're only like nine years old!"

"Eleven, actually. And yes, I could be a possible candidate for the sacrifice…" she started to become teary-eyed and looked away from us.

"Don't worry, Lydia…" Axton walked over the little girl, and laid a hand comfortably on her shoulder. "You won't be the one who dies…"

"Hey, we should get going," I stood up and grabbed my abandoned rifle on the dusty ground, slinging it over my back. Axton picked up Pierce's unconscious body and slung him across his shoulder, while still comfortably holding him in place. I began walking down the hill that led out of the city, with Axton and Lydia tight on my heels. We moved out of the golden gates and approached a large, lush forest.

I had no idea how big it was, but it was most likely a few miles in. Deciduous trees with bushy, green leaves and palm trees all stood next to each other in a massive bunch. A narrow, dirt-covered trail slithered through the trees and bushes, looking endless from where I stood.

I sucked in a huge breath of cool air. It was good to be out of the demolished city that stank of ashes, blood, and rotting corpses. A nice breeze blew through my hair and the sun steadily beamed down from high above. The chatter of songbirds and scurrying of small animals could be heard echoing from deep within the forest.

"Wow, this is beautiful…" Axton murmured.

"Yes, it is. It's probably one of the prettiest places on this planet. The Monks would sometimes let me frolic in these woods, on tight precaution and security, of course. Come on, let's explore it." I entered the forest and gestured for both Lydia and an arm-filled Axton to follow.

We descended deeper and after a good half an hour of hiking, we came across an abandoned-looking hut.

"Hey, check it out. A hut," Axton said, walking closer it.

"Hold up. We don't know what could be inside there," I moved ahead and took my pistol out of its holster. Holding it up in an aim, I kicked open the front door and swerved my flashlight around. From the looks of it, it appeared pretty safe. There were no bodies, pools of blood, or a hunger-stricken zombie in sight.

I spotted two single-headed beds, a small table with a lamp propped on top, a desktop cluttered with papers and books, and a few miscellaneous objects. Lowering my gun, I called out to the others outside, "Hey! It's safe you guys! Come on in!"

I took out two mini lamps and flicked them on, placing them on opposite sides of the room. Just enough light was inside so that we could navigate ourselves. Axton hunkered in, still carrying the knocked-out body of Pierce. He groaned in relief as he placed the Siren upon one of the beds, glad that the heaviness has been lifted from his muscles.

"Damn, he's heavy…" Axton bent down, placing both hands on his knees. After a moment of heavy breathing, he straightened up. "I could really go for a cold shower…"

"I think we all would," I took off my backpack and dumped its contents on the floor. "Okay, I got some extra food, clothing, a first-aid kit…" That's when a certain thought hit me.

"Oh! Now I remember!" I exclaimed, shooting up.

"What is it?" Axton asked.

"There's a spring nearby here. We could fetch some fresh water; perhaps go for a swim…"

"Ohhh, I would kill for a swim…" Axton smirked at the idea.

"Alright, let's go. Lydia, do you wanna come?" I asked the quiet girl.

"No, I'm fine. I'll stay here and take care of Pierce. Did you guys know that my mother taught me some medical tips and how to care for someone?"

"Ah, that's awesome." Axton said.

"Yeah… Okay, thanks, Lydia. Now if there is any danger or something happens, I have a pistol in my pack. Both Axton and I will have our ECHOs on, so just look for the other one in there and you'll immediately contact us." I informed her.

She smiled and nodded. "Got it. You two have fun."

I could see Axton grin out of the corner of my eye, and I felt heat creep into my cheeks. We left the shack, locking the door tightly behind, and I led him towards the spring. We traveled for a bit until I crawled underneath a patch of greenery and shrubs, and Axton followed after me.

My eyes were met with the familiar beautiful sight. A medium-sized spring bubbled up with a waterfall nearby. Palm trees and tropical flowers grew all around it, giving the glint of true paradise. A dozen or so of various sized flat, slated rocks popped up from the clear water. The water was overall clear and fresh, with the sparkle of turquoise-blue.

"Holy…" Axton paused at the mesmerizing sight.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" I asked.

"Definitely…" he continued to have a firm gaze toward the spring. I smirked and approached it, dipping a hand into the water. It was cold, but not too cold to prevent us from swimming in it.

I began stripping off my clothing. One by one, my cargo pants, boots, and top attire was flung behind me. I wrapped my arms around myself, particularly over my breasts, so Mr. Wandering-eyes over there doesn't get too enveloped into the sight of my nudeness.

I glanced back at Axton, who was standing absolutely still, his mouth gaping open and his face tight with amazement. I entered the water, where it only went up to my calves. Then, as I wallowed deeper, the water engulfed me in the rich, cool bliss. I sighed as the sweat, grime, and blood was instantly washed from my skin.

My head dunked underwater and I shot back up, pushing both hands through my wet, azure hair. I realized I left my chest exposed right towards Axton, purposely for his amusement.

"Come on!" I flirtatiously called to him. "The water's wonderful…"

With that, he jogged up to the bank of the spring and began vigorously tearing off his clothing. I was getting impatient with the long time that he was taking, so I swam up to where he stood and pulled him into the water. He yelped with shock but began laughing when he realized what had happened.

He was currently shirtless and had no boots on, but his olive-green cargo pants were still on. He looked down and quickly slipped them off. I raised an eyebrow when I noticed he was naked underneath as well.

"Hey," I said. "Catch me if you can!" My arms propelled forward and huge splashes of water were made. Axton swam after me and caught me almost immediately. I gasped when I felt his strong arm wrap around my mid-section, and he chuckled in my ear.

"Gotcha darlin'." He smiled and I stared into his eyes, hypnotized for a moment by their beauty. That's when both of my arms wrapped around his neck and I curled my fingers through the short hair on the back of his head. Immediately afterwards, I placed my lips firmly onto his. He placed one arm around the small of my back, and the other snaked around my thigh, hoisting me up.

Our kiss developed into something far more that I imagined. It became passionate and I could swear sparks flew off in my head. His lips tasted of heavenly bliss and ecstasy all mixed into one, and I couldn't help but moan as our lips separated and his continued to trail down my jaw and neck.

My hands ran down his sculpted chest, feeling every bit of hardened muscle on him. His scars crisscrossed everywhere and I allowed my fingers to gently trace a few of them. He slid a hand down the left part of my body, his own fingers delicately tracing my tattoos.

Usually no one would dare touch my tattoos, even at this state of time. But Axton was clearly fearless, and wanted me more than ever. His greedy hands targeted for another destination… He placed them upon my breasts, gently massaging and trailing kisses over them.

I moaned and whipped my head backwards, letting him nip at my neck. He placed both hands under my thighs and lifted me above the water, taking me to the bank of the spring.

"What are you doing?" I asked curiously.

"You'll see…" He gently laid me on my back on top of one of the large, flat slated rocks. His body loomed over me as he furiously attacked me a flurry of kisses and soft nips. I hooked my arms under his armpits and slid my hands over his muscled, scarred back.

A tingling sensation started to occur around the lower region of my body, and I needed Axton even more now. He smirked and reached a hand down, his fingers teasing my wet folds. I squealed in delight when I felt him plunge a finger into me, then it turned into two, three.

I ripple of ecstasy crashed over my body and I gripped the slick edges of the rock, a strewn of moans leaving my lips. "Oh God... That was great…" I sighed, cracking an eye open and looking at him.

"Wait… There's more," he said, and that's when I saw his rising erection. Holy shit, it was huge…

I softly whimpered when I saw him get into position. "Axton, wait… I have to tell you something…"

He looked at me with emerald eyes glazed in worry. "What is it?"

I hesitated for a moment, nervous and slightly embarrassed about what I was about to say. "I-I'm… a virgin,"

He gave me a warm and comforting smile, and kissed my cheek. "I kinda find that hard to believe… but, don't worry. I'll go easy, I promise."

Without another word or warning, he slowly slid himself into me. I gasped, shocked at the sudden excruciating pain. That's when I realized he was a perfect fit. I was immobilized for a moment and the intense stretching of my insides felt agonizing.

Axton looked at me, not moving, allowing me to get used to the feeling. When I nodded for him to continue, he began slowly thrusting.

I noticed the pain was quickly dispersing and in return, absolute pleasure overwhelmed me. I wrapped my arms around him, my hands sliding back and forth on his back with each thrust. He started to pant and grunt with each move he made, quickly turning into a chorus of deep, masculine sounds.

My breathing became unsteady and a stream of loud moans poured out of my mouth. The ecstasy became unbearable to the point where the orgasm came almost immediately. I screamed the loudest scream I've probably ever made before. Axton groaned as his own orgasm came shortly afterwards and I felt warmth fill my limbs. But I still wanted more.

I managed to flip the Commando's enormous body over and now I sat on top of him. He looked surprised but his usual seductive grin formed upon his lips.

"Ah, you want more, sweetheart?" his voice rumbled in his throat.

I nodded and placed myself over his thick erection, enjoying the feeling of him filling me once again. I started rocking me hips, my eyes trained onto his. The pleasure was overwhelming once again and I moaned with every impact we made.

In this very moment, I was taken to a place that I have never experienced or even imagined. My vision went dark as I closed my eyes and relished in my utter happiness. The feeling became more intense as I moved faster, my hands trailing down his chest and abdominals.

His grunts became louder and more animalistic; my moans became a musical piece of crescendos and sharps. The strong commando grabbed ahold of my buttocks and slightly lifted me up as I suddenly felt his orgasm come upon me. I threw my head back and shrieked, my eyes rolling backwards into my head. He ejaculated into me and I thought my pelvis was literally going to burst. The immense warmth and pleasure was overwhelming, causing me to gasp and dig my fingernails deep into Axton's bare shoulders.

As the climax of our combined orgasm ended, Axton slid himself out of me and collapsed next to me. We both panted heavily, our bodies slick with sweat. He sat up on his elbows and kissed my forehead, moving a strand of hair out of my face with a finger.

I wrapped both arms around him and rested my head on his chest. I could hear his heart pounding against his ribcage, each beat starting to slow down as his speeding heart rate deceased.

"Oh my God, Axton… That was amazing…" I whispered to him, closing my eyes as his hand slid up and down my thigh.

He chuckled in my ear and gently pressed his soft lips against my neck. I leaned back into his muscled chest and sighed as I felt his strong arms wrap around me once again. For the time being, in total silence, we laid in a tight embrace and cherished this moment.

After a blissful moment of silence, Axton spoke up, his voice soft and delicate. "Perhaps we should get back to the Lydia? The girl's probably worried sick…"

I giggled softly and gently squeezed his arm that was draped over my mid-section. "I'm sure she's fine…" Then that's when it hit me. Pierce, the handsome siren that has been in love with me, was unconsciousness and possibly suffering from some kind of brain trauma, while Axton and I made love… Guilt flooded over me and I smacked away Axton's arms, quickly rolling away from his body. He stared at me with wide, confused eyes.

"What is it?" he asked, his face tight with worry.

I just looked at him and sighed, shaking my head in utter nothingness. "It's…nothing," I stood up from the slated rock and walked over to where my clothes piled up in a cluttered mess. "I j-just need to go recuperate myself…" I hastily pulled my attire on and sped-walked back the way we came, ignoring Axton's frantic pleas and calls for me to come back.

As I ran out of sight, I didn't look back.

* * *

**I bet you're horny now... Just kidding! Nahh, I'm not that perverted, trust me. But it is a known fact that girls can be more pervy than guys... (Please don't judge me!) I promise you that this will be the only lemon scene, unless anyone asks otherwise... You're welcome to go ahead and tell me! Lol**

**See you guys next time. Peace. :D**


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